Police capture woman after she climbs onto the base of the Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty.
(Image credit: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)

A woman who climbed onto the base of the Statue of Liberty on Wednesday is now in custody after police used ropes to get up to her.

Seven other protesters were arrested earlier after they unfurled a banner reading "Abolish ICE" at the statue's pedestal. The protesters are part of a group named Rise and Resist, organizer Martin Joseph Quinn told CNN, but he said the woman's climb was not planned as part of the demonstration. After the woman scaled the statue, Liberty Island was evacuated.

A law enforcement official told CNN the NYPD did not believe the woman would come down on her own, and that's why they climbed up there using a rope rescue system.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.