Statue Of Liberty Protester Pleads Not Guilty In Federal Court

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — The woman who climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty in an Independence Day protest pleaded not guilty to three federal misdemeanors Thursday. Therese Okoumou of Staten Island was released on her own recognizance after her arraignment in Manhattan federal court on charges of trespassing, interference with government agency functions and disorderly conduct.

"I would not do it again, but I think the message was sent: No child belongs in a cage," Okoumou told reporters after leaving the courthouse.

U.S. Park Police arrested Okoumou on Thursday evening after she scaled the base of Lady Liberty in what she said was a spur-of-the-moment protest against U.S. immigration policies.

Dressed all in black, Okoumou raised her fist to a crowd of activists who packed the 26th-floor courtroom to support her. They applauded after Magistrate Judge Ona Wang adjourned the brief proceeding.

Prosecutors allege Okoumou refused to come down from the statue, forcing law enforcement to retrieve her. Tourists were reportedly evacuated from Liberty Island because of the ordeal.

Okoumou faces up to six months in prison for each charge.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman called Okoumou’s action “a dangerous stunt that alarmed the public and endangered her own life and the lives of the NYPD officers who responded to the scene.”

“While we must and do respect the rights of the people to peaceable protest, that right does not extend to breaking the law in ways that put others at risk,” Berman said in a statement.

Okoumou is a naturalized U.S. citizen who said she immigrated from the Republic of Congo in 1994. She again condemned the Trump adminstration's "zero tolerance" policy toward illegal border crossings that has resulted in more than 2,000 immigrant children being separated from their families.

"In a democracy we do not put children in cages, period," she said. "There is no debating it."

Seven other protesters with the activist group Rise and Resist were separately arrested Wednesday after unfurling a banner on the statue's base calling for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Rise and Resist initially seemed to distance itself from Okoumou's action, saying its protest did not include a climber. But the group later called her a "comrade" and said it supports her "unequivocally."

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Therese Okoumou's stated country of origin. She said she is from the Republic of Congo, not the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(Lead image: Therese Okoumou speaks outside the Lower Manhattan federal courthouse after her arraignment for climbing the base of the Statue of Liberty on Independence Day. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)