Politics & Government

Ben and Jerry’s cofounders arrested at Capitol protest

ELIZABETH KOH

ekoh@mcclatchy.com

April 19, 2016 07:31 AM

In this photo made Friday, April 9, 2010, Vermont ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen, left, and Jerry Greenfield pose for photos in Burlington, Vt. The two are backing legislation that would allow corporations to write a social mission into their legal charters. The two say if a bill allowing for so-called "benefit corporations" had been law a decade ago, they might not have had to sell Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. to European conglomerate Unilever.
In this photo made Friday, April 9, 2010, Vermont ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen, left, and Jerry Greenfield pose for photos in Burlington, Vt. The two are backing legislation that would allow corporations to write a social mission into their legal charters. The two say if a bill allowing for so-called "benefit corporations" had been law a decade ago, they might not have had to sell Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. to European conglomerate Unilever. Toby Talbot ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo made Friday, April 9, 2010, Vermont ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen, left, and Jerry Greenfield pose for photos in Burlington, Vt. The two are backing legislation that would allow corporations to write a social mission into their legal charters. The two say if a bill allowing for so-called "benefit corporations" had been law a decade ago, they might not have had to sell Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. to European conglomerate Unilever. Toby Talbot ASSOCIATED PRESS

The cofounders of the popular Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company were arrested Monday afternoon as part of a sit-in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol protesting big money in politics.

Jerry Greenfield, 66, and Ben Cohen, 65, were arrested with about 300 others for “unlawful demonstration activities,” according to a statement from U.S. Capitol Police Monday. All demonstrators were processed and released the same day.

The Democracy Awakening demonstrations, in addition to protesting for campaign finance reform, seek to reinstate the Voting Rights Act and urge action on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, according to their website.

“The history of our country is that nothing happens... until people start putting their bodies on the line and risk getting arrested,” Cohen said at the protest, according to a company blog post.

Several other activists, including NAACP President Cornell Brooks and Sierra Club president Aaron Mair were also among those arrested at Monday’s protest.

Demonstrators have been arrested continuously on the Capitol steps since last week, when protestors for the Democracy Spring movement staged similar sit-ins for campaign finance reform. Capitol police said they had made about 1,240 arrests since those protests began.

The Ben and Jerry’s duo has addressed social justice issues before. The company started a climate change campaign called “Save our Swirled” last year to collect signatures for a petition supporting clean energy and government action. Last June, the company celebrated a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage with a temporarily renamed ice cream flavor, “I Dough, I Dough.”

Cohen also created an ice cream flavor last year honoring Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, who represents the duo’s home state of Vermont. Called “Bernie’s Yearning,” the ice cream featured a disk of chocolate at the top of the carton to represent "the huge majority of economic gains that have gone to the top 1% since the end of the recession,” according to the flavor’s description.

Both will travel to Delaware Tuesday to campaign for Sanders, CNN reported.

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