Patricia Warwick stood in the back row of protesters, her eyes just peeking out above the giant 'No Tar Sands' sign she was holding in front of the White House.
But there was no hiding from the inevitable Sunday for the 68-year-old Torontonian.
Within 20 minutes of ignoring a police order to leave the White House sidewalk, a black-clad SWAT team officer pointed at Warwick, asked her to step forward, then secured a set of plastic handcuffs on the retiree’s wrists.
On the second day of a planned two-week White House 'sit-in' to protest the Keystone XL pipeline, Warwick became the first Canadian activist to be arrested and put behind bars.
"I regard the tarsands as one of the most critical issues of our time, and if they are not stopped, it is going to be game-over as far as mitigating climate change," Warwick said before the demonstration.
About 50 other environmental activists joined Warwick in her act of civil disobedience, designed to pressure President Barack Obama into rejecting a permit allowing Calgary-based TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. to begin construction of the 2,700-kilometre oilsands pipeline.
Their arrests brought the total number of protesters detained in two days of sit-ins to more than 100. Most remained in the central cellblock at Washington police headquarters on Sunday, awaiting court hearings on Monday.
The ongoing detention of so many activists, including protest organizers like environmental author Bill McKibben, was an unexpected twist for planners of the sit-in. They had expected most protesters would be released within hours of their arrest after paying a $100 U.S. fine.
Instead, they are facing minor charges of refusing to obey a police officer’s order and protesters from out of town -- including any Canadians -- are facing more lengthy processing times in jail.
Organizers of the White House protests are touting the 15-day event as the biggest act of civil disobedience in decades for the U.S. environmental movement, with up to 2,000 activists expected for daily sit-ins lasting until Sept. 3.
The $7-billion U.S. Keystone XL pipeline would carry up to 900,000 barrels of crude a day from Hardisty, Alta., to Port Arthur, Texas. After more than two years of review, the Obama administration plans to announce by the end of 2011 whether it will grant a presidential permit to allow the project to proceed.
Opponents fear the possibility of pipeline ruptures in environmentally sensitive areas along Keystone XL’s planned route, and see the project as a chance to thwart further development of northern Alberta’s oilsands.
Jane Kleeb, a Nebraska activist who plans to get arrested in Monday’s White House protest, said police have told organizers the overnight detentions are meant to deter activists from participating in the demonstrations.
"It’s not deterring anybody. We are going to come out day after day for two weeks, to make sure Obama gets the message," said Kleeb, director of Bold Nebraska, a progressive group organizing state opposition to Keystone XL.
U.S. Park Police said they are simply enforcing the law. Protesters have violated permits that allow them to march -- but not stand or sit -- on the sidewalk in front of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Just two days into the anti-oilsands protests, the events have already taken on something of a routine. Activists assemble mid-morning across Pennsylvania Avenue in Lafayette Park. They are divided into two groups -- those willing to be arrested and those who plan to leave after police warnings.
Police give the protesters three warnings to disperse — each three minutes apart — before beginning the arrests. Women are taken into custody first, then the men are detained.
Police paddy wagons have been on scene both days before the protests began.
Several high profile progressive activists, including actors Danny Glover, Mark Ruffalo and Margot Kidder have promised to participate in the protests over the next two weeks.
Canadian opponents, including author Naomi Klein, activist David Suzuki, Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow and First Nations groups, are planning to attend protests later this month and in early September.
