Protester charged after climbing Statue of Liberty

Police charged a woman with federal trespassing, disorderly conduct, and other offenses after she climbed up the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York on Wednesday, prompting authorities to shut down the monument. The woman, identified in reports as Therese Okoumou, had climbed from the monument’s pedestal to the feet of Lady Liberty, saying she was protesting the separation of immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Police coaxed her down after a standoff lasting about four hours. Okoumou, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, had been participating in a demonstration organized by the protest group Rise and Resist. Earlier on Wednesday, the group had unfurled a banner from the statue’s pedestal that read “Abolish ICE!” An organizer for Rise and Resist said the group had not directed Okoumou to climb the statue.