An activist who has been protesting the continuous operation of the Guantanamo Bay military detention facility was arrested Wednesday after climbing over the fence on the north lawn of the White House.
Diane Wilson, a member of the activism group Code Pink, was
arrested Wednesday afternoon in Washington, according to the
organization’s official Twitter account.
Wilson, a Texas shrimp boat captain in her sixties, has been
regularly demonstrating outside of the White House in an effort
to raise awareness of the 166 Gitmo detainees who remain held at
the detention facility in Cuba more than four years after
President Barack Obama said he’d shut the center down. Eighty-six
of those inmates have been cleared for release, and more than 100
have been participating in a hunger strike that started this past
February.
As an act of solidarity with the detainees who have engaged in a
months-long hunger strike, Wilson has been fasting for 57 days as
of Wednesday’s arrest.
Wilson and other members of Code Pink began demonstrating outside
of the White House just after 12 noon on Wednesday, and word of
her arrest circulated quickly over the Internet around one hour
later.
Jodi Evans, a fellow co-founder of the group, tweeted that Wilson
was arrested shortly after climbing over the White House fence in
order to demand the detainees’ release. Photos have since spread
of Wilson standing on the lawn of the property, as well as other
images of her laying on the grass as armed police and guard dogs
race to the scene.
Code Pink tweeted that co-founder Medea Benjamin was also
apprehended by police after reportedly assisting Wilson. Benjamin
made headlines on her own account earlier this year after she
interrupted the president during a speech about the detention
center.
“Eighty-six were cleared already. Release them today!”
Benjamin yelled during last month’s presidential address in
Washington.
“I’m willing to cut the young lady who interrupted me some
slack because it’s worth being passionate about,” the
president responded. “Is this who we are? Is that something
our fathers foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave our
children?
Wilson has previously been arrested for chaining herself to the
White House fence, and was sentenced to three months in jail in
2006 after interrupting a speech by then-Vice President Dick
Cheney.
This article originally appeared on: RT