Greenpeace backs arrested activists

Group says the risk of arrest can be necessary.

The three activists who were arrested by Capitol Police Monday acted peacefully to make their point, a Greanpeace spokesman said.

The Greenpeace members carried balloons into a Capitol building that announced what they alleged is a close relationship between Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and oil companies. Capitol Police promptly arrested them.

They were charged with a misdemeanor and released the same day, according to police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider. It is illegal to demonstrate inside any of the buildings on the Capitol.

The Capitol Police charge will be handled by D.C. courts, Schneider noted.

At the time of the arrest, Murkowski was grilling EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about the agency's policies on carbon pollution. The Senator has backed a resolution to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases found in fossil fuels .

Greenpeace also accuses her of being under the influence of oil lobbyists seeking to derail the climate debate in Congress.

"The risk of arrest is sometimes needed to confront the real criminals," Joe Smyth, a Greenpeace spokesman, said.

-- Ambreen Ali, Congress.org

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