A group of climate protesters were taken into custody for trespassing outside Sen. Ted Cruz’s home in Houston — after they marched 400 miles to get there, refused to leave and “chose to be arrested,” according to law enforcement.
The eight who were arrested were part of a larger group of about 70 people protesting about climate change Monday morning.
“The large majority of the group are extremely peaceful out there expressing the First Amendment rights to protest against climate change,” Assistant Houston Police Chief Ban Tien said in a video posted on Facebook. “Unfortunately, there was a small group who were actually trespassing on private property in front of the senator’s residence.”
He said police warned the group a number of times to stay on the sidewalk and not go near Cruz’s home, but they refused.
“As such, that particular group — roughly eight individuals — still refused to leave and we finally gave one final warning and those individuals still refused to leave,” Tien said. “We explained to them the fact that they were violating a trespassing law. They acknowledged they understood and they chose to be arrested.”
A Texas Tribune reporter tweeted that the group of protesters — part of the Sunrise Movement — had marched 400 miles from New Orleans to Houston to raise awareness of the effects of climate change.
The Republican senator is a man-made climate change skeptic.
They gathered outside Cruz’s home, calling for President Biden to stop negotiating with Republicans and pass Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “civilian climate corps plan,” Erin Douglas posted on her account.
Some of the protesters stood on Cruz’s lawn and shouted, “Whose side are you on?”