The 81-year-old actress had previously announced her intention to be arrested

Jane Fonda was arrested Friday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol while protesting against climate change, PEOPLE confirms.

WUSA9 posted video online showing the 81-year-old actress and longtime activist being taken into custody.

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Fonda had announced her intentions ahead of the protest, telling the Washington Post she recently moved to D.C. so she could be more active on the issue of climate change.

She said that she plans to protest this same way for the next 14 Fridays.

“I’m going to take my body, which is kind of famous and popular right now because of the [Netflix] series [Grace and Frankie] and I’m going to go to D.C. and I’m going to have a rally every Friday,” Fonda said in an interview with the Post.

“It’ll be called ‘Fire Drill Friday.’ And we’re going to engage in civil disobedience and we’re going to get arrested every Friday.”

“Today, the United States Capitol Police arrested 16 individuals for unlawfully demonstrating on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol,” United States Capitol Police Communications Director Eva Malecki wrote in an email to PEOPLE.

Malecki wrote that all are charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding.

Image zoom Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post/Getty

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The civil disobedience is designed to inspire lawmakers to take action to address what Fonda described to WTOL as “an existential threat.”

WTOL quoted her as saying: “We have to be sure that the crisis that is climate change remains front and center like a ticking time bomb. We don’t have very much time, and it’s really urgent.”