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Source: WENN / WENN

A Black woman who scaled the base structure of the Statue of Liberty in New York was eventually brought down by police and taken into custody. Therese Okoumou, who is reportedly connected to a protest group based in New York City, says she performed the act to protest the current administration’s handling of migrant families at the border.

New York Daily News writes:

A woman wearing an anti-Trump T-shirt climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty on Independence Day, sparking a mass evacuation of Liberty Island and a nearly four-hour standoff with first responders before she was taken into custody, officials said.

The protester, identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou, 44, was seen scaling the base of the statue about 3 p.m., moments after the group Rise and Resist formed a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Liberty Island.

Okoumou’s impromptu statue scaling triggered a call to police, who spent more than three hours trying to talk her off the nearly 200-foot-high perch.

According to police accounts, Okoumou was reportedly hostile towards them and resited assistance. However, the officers who rescued her say that Okoumou thanked them for rescuing her as she faced a risk of falling from the structure. Okoumou has performed bold actions before and joined the group Rise and Resist recently, joining their efforts to decry President Donald Trump.

Rise and Resist officials say that Okoumou’s act was not planned by the group.

Photo: WENN.com

Black Woman Scales Statue Of Liberty In Protest Of Trump’s Treatment Of Migrants  was originally published on hiphopwired.com