Several climate change demonstrators protesting outside Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) residence in his home state of Texas were arrested Monday, according to local law enforcement.
Eight protesters belonging to the left-wing, youth-led climate change activist group, the Sunrise Movement, were taken into police custody for trespassing upon refusing to leave Cruz’s property, Houston Police Department told Texas Tribune reporter Erin Douglas. Douglas said the protesters were demanding that President Joe Biden halt negotiations with congressional Republicans and pass Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) climate change plan as they chanted, “Whose side are you on?” The New York Democrat’s proposal would launch a Civilian Climate Corps, a move that would create federal government jobs to fight global warming.
Assistant Police Chief Ban Tien said of the approximately 70 protesters:
The large majority of the group are extremely peaceful out there expressing the First Amendment rights (to) protest against climate change. Unfortunately, there was a small group who was actually committing trespassing into private property in front of the senator’s residence.
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. We explained to them the fact that they were violating a trespassing law. They acknowledged they understood and they chose to be arrested.
It is unclear if Cruz was at his home during the protest. The Texas Republican has not issued a statement regarding the matter.
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