UPDATED: 7/5/18
A Black woman, Therese Patricia Okoumou has been arrested at the Statue of Liberty after she climbed it yesterday in protest of Trump’s immigration policy. Black Twitter, who seemed to know the woman’s identity before it hit mainstream news outlets, rushed to her support along with Black activist organizations, who reportedly helped the woman get a lawyer and raise money for legal fees. While many consider Okoumou, possibly an immigrant from the Congo, a patriot for her non-violent protest, others on social media decried her actions.
Rise and Resist, the organization who dropped a banner asking for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the Statue on the Fourth, issued a statement distancing themselves from Okoumou.
.@RiseandResistNY has released a statement disavowing #TheresePatriciaOkoumou for climbing the statue of liberty.
This is shameful. As a movement, we can never throw our own people under the bus when they are in the custody of the law enforcement. https://t.co/XPOSwSDw0U
— agitator in chief (@soit_goes) July 5, 2018
NEW YORK (AP) — A person has climbed the Statue of Liberty’s base on the Fourth of July shortly after the arrests of several people who hung a banner calling for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the statue’s pedestal.
News helicopter video showed the climber sitting by the bottom of the statue’s robes Wednesday. Police stood nearby.
A woman has climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty and seven people have been arrested on Liberty Island, all of whom are believed to be protesters, law enforcement sources say https://t.co/C8OJAlxh2l pic.twitter.com/UuLq0A8QJX
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 4, 2018
National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis says police are trying to persuade the climber to descend.
Earlier, Willis said at least six people were taken into custody for a banner that read “Abolish I.C.E.,” referring to part of the Department of Homeland Security. Willis says federal regulations prohibit hanging banners from the monument.
The group behind the banner, Rise and Resist, says the climber isn’t connected to the earlier demonstration.
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