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.<\/p>\n
\n Diane Wilson, a member of the activism group Code Pink, was
\n arrested Wednesday afternoon in Washington, according to the
\n organization\u2019s official Twitter account.
\n <\/p>\n
\n Wilson, a Texas shrimp boat captain in her sixties, has been
\n regularly demonstrating outside of the White House in an effort
\n to raise awareness of the 166 Gitmo detainees who remain held at
\n the detention facility in Cuba more than four years after
\n President Barack Obama said he\u2019d shut the center down. Eighty-six
\n of those inmates have been cleared for release, and more than 100
\n have been participating in a hunger strike that started this past
\n February.\n<\/p>\n
\n As an act of solidarity with the detainees who have engaged in a
\n months-long hunger strike, Wilson has been fasting for 57 days as
\n of Wednesday\u2019s arrest.\n<\/p>\n
\n Wilson and other members of Code Pink began demonstrating outside
\n of the White House just after 12 noon on Wednesday, and word of
\n her arrest circulated quickly over the Internet around one hour
\n later.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jodi Evans, a fellow co-founder of the group, tweeted that Wilson
\n was arrested shortly after climbing over the White House fence in
\n order to demand the detainees\u2019 release. Photos have since spread
\n of Wilson standing on the lawn of the property, as well as other
\n images of her laying on the grass as armed police and guard dogs
\n race to the scene.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Code Pink tweeted that co-founder Medea Benjamin was also
\n apprehended by police after reportedly assisting Wilson. Benjamin
\n made headlines on her own account earlier this year after she
\n interrupted the president during a speech about the detention
\n center.
\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cEighty-six were cleared already. Release them today<\/i>!”
\n Benjamin yelled during last month\u2019s presidential address in
\n Washington.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m willing to cut the young lady who interrupted me some
\n slack because it\u2019s worth being passionate about<\/i>,\u201d the
\n president responded. \u201cIs this who we are? Is that something
\n our fathers foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave our
\n children<\/i>?\n<\/p>\n
\n Wilson has previously been arrested for chaining herself to the
\n White House fence, and was sentenced to three months in jail in
\n 2006 after interrupting a speech by then-Vice President Dick
\n Cheney.\n<\/p>\n