Jane Fonda Arrested In D.C. During Climate Change Protest

Jane Fonda was arrested in Washington, D.C. on Friday while protesting against climate change on Capitol Hill, a representative for the actress confirmed. According to Entertainment Tonight, she was one of 16 people arrested for unlawful demonstration during the first of what will reportedly be weekly "Fire Drill Friday" demonstrations.

"Inspired by the growing movement of young climate strikers, Fonda decided to move to the nation's capital for four months to take up their baton," a press release for the demonstration reads, per ET. Fonda also told reporters on the scene that she planned to get arrested — not just today, but every Friday into 2020.

Fonda previously explained the concept of "Fire Drill Fridays" to The Washington Post, saying, "I'm going to take my body, which is kind of famous and popular right now because of the [television] series, and I'm going to go to D.C. and I'm going to have a rally every Friday."

In future demonstrations, Fonda will reportedly be joined by "celebrities, scientists, economists, and people from impacted communities who will speak and some of whom will invite arrest," the press release details.

The Grace & Frankie star's activism has earned her international attention in the past. While on an anti-Vietnam War speaking tour in 1970, airport security found vitamins in Fonda's luggage they believed to be drugs. She was arrested for drug-smuggling, resulting in an unforgettable mugshot, and was later released and had charges dropped after the vitamins were determined to, in fact, be vitamins. On her website, she wrote that the arrest was ordered by the White House.

"I think they hoped this 'scandal' would cause the college speeches to be canceled and ruin my respectability," she wrote.

During a 1972 trip to North Vietnam, Fonda posed for a now-infamous photo that earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane." In it, the actress is wearing a helmet and sitting with North Vietnamese troops on an anti-aircraft gun, a weapon used against American troops.

Fonda later apologised for the photo, but it has continued to haunt her. In 2015, veterans protested outside her appearance at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland.

“It hurts me,” she told the audience, according to the Frederick News-Post. “And it will to my grave that I made a huge, huge mistake that made a lot of people think I was against the soldiers.”

In the past 15 years, Fonda has spoken out against the Iraq War, participating in a January 27, 2007 anti-war rally and march on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. She was also one of 1,500 to sign a letter protesting the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival's spotlight on Tel Aviv, but faced some backlash for the letter's criticism of Israel. She addressed the concerns in a piece for The Huffington Post.

Fonda will likely issue a statement on her arrest but, according to her representative, they "need to get her out of jail first."