A woman who climbed up to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest the separation of migrant families was taken into custody after a standoff with police on the Fourth of July. Authorities had tried to talk the woman down but she refused to leave. For nearly three hours, she crossed the base of the statue, at times sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. The woman was identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou by a law enforcement source close to the investigation and another source who knows her. The woman was part of a group of protesters and had declared that she wouldn't come down until "all the children are released," a source with the New York Police Department told CNN. About 16 officers with the New York City Police Department's Emergency Service Unit -- a team trained to perform some of the most dangerous rescues in the city -- took part in the rescue/apprehension effort, Officer Brian Glacken said in a news conference Wednesday evening. "At first, she wasn't friendly with us, but we took the time to get a rapport with her so that took a while," said Glacken. "She just kind of mentioned the kids in Texas. I guess the whole debate that's going on about that. In the beginning, she threatened to push us off, push the ladder off, but we stayed with her," Glacken added. Finally, officers with ropes and climbing gear reached her. "At first she was being a little combative, then she was willing to cooperate with us. She actually apologized to us for having to go up and get her," Glacken told reporters. Officers put a harness and ropes on her to bring her down, and she crossed to the other side of the statue with the officers where a ladder was propped up on the base of the statue. The woman is affiliated with Rise and Resist, an organizer of the group, Martin Joseph Quinn, told CNN. But, Quinn said, her climb was not part of the planned protest. "She climbed without our knowledge. It was not part of our action," Quinn said. National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis said the woman was in federal custody Wednesday evening and will be transported to a US Marshals office in Manhattan. Police believe seven other protesters -- who were also arrested Wednesday -- boosted her to the base of the statue, said New York Police Lt. Michael McGuinness. "None of us know how she got up there," said Jay W. Walker, an organizer and board member of Rise and Resist. In a statement, the group said they supported Okoumou and that members are "working to secure the best legal representation" for her. Park police have recommended charges to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Willis added. Possible charges include trespassing, disorderly conduct and interfering with government functions. 'Lady Liberty is weeping' Earlier, other protesters unfurled a banner over a railing around the base of the statue saying "Abolish ICE!" At least seven people were arrested on Liberty Island and the site was closed to visitors. Statue of Liberty Fast Facts Walker said the theme of the protest was that Lady Liberty is weeping over the unconstitutional excesses of ICE under the Trump administration. "We thought we wanted to do something on our Independence Day, a day that obviously is meant for reflection on the ideals on which this nation was founded. This country has posited itself as a beacon. Right now, we have a government that is actively turning its back on those ideals," Walker said. Visitors turned away Liberty Island was evacuated during the police action, according to Willis. Tourist Tiana Smith of Atlanta said she was walking toward the statue during a tour Wednesday afternoon when the workers there started telling everyone to turn back. "We got towards the ferry to ride back and we saw the SWAT team get off, and the police officers came with their harness and the helicopters, so we were like, yeah, we just need to go," she told CNN. Statue Cruises, which provides trips to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, had to turn away as many as 3,000 people because of the statue climber, company representative Rafael Abreu told CNN. The Fourth of July is normally one of their busiest days of the year and they typically see 22,000 visitors on summer days, says Abreu. At one point, Okoumou walked back and forth under Lady Liberty's sandal and then sat down and appeared to unfurl a small flag or banner. The NYPD had built a rope rescue system to help bring her down from the base, because officers didn't believe she would come down on her own, a police source told CNN. The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.<doc-sep>Police arrested a woman who climbed the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in a Fourth of July protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and she is due to appear in court in New York on Thursday morning. The climber huddled at the base of the monument, about 30 meters above the ground, and engaged in a four-hour standoff with police before two New York police department officers climbed up to the base and apprehended her. With the dramatic scene unfolding on live television, officers followed the woman around the base after she attempted to start climbing the statue. She was named in reports by federal officials on Wednesday night as Therese Okoumou and had been taken into federal custody. The Statue of Liberty is a national monument administered, on its tiny island off the tip of Manhattan, by the National Park Service. After an almost four-hour standoff at the base of the statue on a sweltering Independence Day in New York, police who had erected and scaled ladders to reach the protester, grabbed her round the waist. She had become cornered against the part of the statue depicting Liberty’s robes, up against the statue’s sandalled foot. After trying to climb up further, or sidle around the foot, the protester failed and was trapped against the tall, copper structure. Police held her down until she appeared to allow a harness to be slung around her. She eventually climbed down about eight meters to the monument’s observation point and was taken into custody. “She’s been taken into custody amicably, peacefully, without any injuries, or injuries to our officers, thank God. It’s all over now,” Sgt David Somma, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said. He added that prosecutors would determine any charges filed against the woman. Visitors were evacuated from Liberty Island during the standoff on Wednesday afternoon. Okoumou is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, according to the office of the US attorney. A federal official said the protester had told police she was protesting against the separation of immigrant children from parents who cross the US-Mexico border unlawfully. Earlier in the day at least six protesters were arrested at the monument after hanging a banner from the pedestal emblazoned with a message about abolishing Ice, the US immigration enforcement agency. Activists with the group Rise and Resist said they had hung the banner to protest against the Trump administration and its “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, which has caused families to be separated at the border. Park police negotiate with a protester who climbed the pedestal of the the Statue of Liberty in New York on Wednesday. Photograph: Harry Slater/The Guardian Okoumou appeared to be wearing a Rise and Resist T-shirt. The group initially said her action was not part of the earlier demonstration but later said the climber had been involved in that demonstration but her climb was not part of the group’s plan. Rise and Resist planned a banner drop today at the Statue of Liberty. This action did not include the climber on the statue. Our action was completed earlier. While it was not part of our action, our first priority and concern is for the safety of the climber. — Rise and Resist (@riseandresistny) July 4, 2018 The other people taken into custody on Wednesday had unfurled a banner at the statue, which said “Abolish ICE”. Federal regulations prohibit hanging banners from the monument. Ice, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a division of the Department of Homeland Security whose officers arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants inside the US, among other duties. Unidentified climber scales the Statue of Liberty as part of an apparent protest against @ICEgov https://t.co/l9CtEdBYU8 pic.twitter.com/P1OdGXG5ck — New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) July 4, 2018 The Statue of Liberty has stood as a landmark since the late 19th century as a welcoming symbol to immigrants arriving in the US. The statue has been a rallying point for anti-war and pro-immigration demonstrations in the past – usually for those gathering at the tip of Manhattan within sight of the iconic torch held aloft. But Liberty has also attracted protests against her very existence. Suffragettes protested against the original unveiling of the statue in 1886 because it was a female figure of freedom, while women did not have the right to vote. Protests related to the suffrage movement then became a regular Independence Day event. Last summer the senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller sparked a furore over the president’s stated intention to try to move legal immigration to a “merit-based system”, when Miller questioned the relevance of the poem by Emma Lazarus inscribed at the base of the statue, which includes the celebrated lines: “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The Guardian then asked 21 poets to reimagine the poem as Trump would like to see it, which ended up including lines such as: “America, the door is closed now.”<doc-sep>
NEW YORK: An immigrant woman who scaled up the stone pedestal of the iconic Statue of Liberty to protest President Donald Trump 's controversial "zero tolerance" immigration policy has been arrested after a three hour-long standoff with the police amid US' Independence Day celebrations.The 44-year-old woman identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou, an immigrant from Democratic Republic of the Congo staged the dramatic protest against Trump's tough immigration policy that has separated nearly 2,000 children from their parents and guardians and placed into holding facilities between April 19 and May 31 of this year.The controversial decision however has been reversed by President Trump through an executive order following widespread protests against the move.Okoumou climbed up to the base of the Statue of Liberty late afternoon yesterday leading, law enforcement officials to order evacuation of the Liberty Island on a day when thousands of visitors and tourists flock to the island where the Statue is located to see one of the most iconic symbols of America and its immigration history.At first authorities tried to talk the woman down but she refused to leave. For nearly three hours, she sat at the base of the statue, sometimes sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. The woman was part of a group of protesters and had declared that she wouldn't come down until "all the children are released," a source with the New York Police Department told CNN.About 16 officers with the New York City Police Department took part in the risky rescue/apprehension effort, Officer Brian Glacken said in a news conference Wednesday evening. "At first, she wasn't friendly with us, but we took the time to get a rapport with her so that took a while," said Glacken. "She just kind of mentioned the kids in Texas. I guess the whole debate that's going on about that. In the beginning, she threatened to push us off, push the ladder off, but we stayed with her," Glacken added.Finally, officers with ropes and climbing gear reached her. "At first she was being a little combative, then she was willing to cooperate with us. She actually apologized to us for having to go up and get her," Glacken told reporters.The protest group Rise and Resist said in a statement that Okoumou's decision to climb the statue was made independently of the group, without consulting any other member of the group. "We understand and share her desire to see the immediate release of children from detention and reunion with their parents. We hope that her legal representation will arrange for her release under her own recognizance. "The US Parks Police evacuated the island as a precaution as they tried to bring her down.Parks workers also cordoned off the base of the statue with chairs to prevent anyone from getting close, witnesses said. Officers had to put up a harness and ropes on her to bring her down, and she crossed to the other side of the statue with the officers where a ladder was propped up on the base of the statue. National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis said the woman was in federal custody Wednesday evening and will be transported to a US Marshals office in Manhattan. According to CNN, Park police have recommended charges to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, including trespassing, disorderly conduct and interfering with government functions.Earlier, other protesters unfurled a banner over a railing around the base of the statue saying "Abolish ICE!" At least seven people were arrested on Liberty Island and the site was closed to visitors.Jay W Walker, an organiser and board member of Rise and Resist, told CNN the theme of the protest was that Lady Liberty is weeping over the unconstitutional excesses of ICE under the Trump administration. "We thought we wanted to do something on our Independence Day, a day that obviously is meant for reflection on the ideals on which this nation was founded. This country has posited itself as a beacon. Right now, we have a government that is actively turning its back on those ideals," Walker said.The Statue of Liberty, standing 93 meters from the tip of its torch to the ground, is a gift from the people of France to the people of the US.The statue has become a worldwide symbol of the American values of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."