Shrimper Douses Herself With Oil in Spill Protest

Diane Wilson, a Texas shrimper and activist, has been arrested for pouring oil on herself during a senate energy hearing.

Wilson was voicing her anger over the issue of BP's liability in the catastrophic spill that has devastated the shrimping industry along the Gulf coast.

She was specifically protesting Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's blocking of a bill that would have lifted the oil giant's liability cap.

Wilson was promptly removed from the hearing and arrested and charged with unlawful conduct disruption of Congress, according to Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the Capitol Hill Police.

"I am seeing the destruction of my community and I am outraged," Wilson said in a statement released by Codepink following her arrest. "I am also seeing elected representatives like Senator Lisa Murkowski blocking BP from being legally responsible to pay for this catastrophe.... This is outrageous. How dare she side with big oil over the American people who have been so devastated by this manmade disaster?"

Wilson, who claims to be a fourth-generation shrimper, has been protesting and writing about pollution in the Gulf for years.

"We want people to call Senator Murkowski's office and tell her to stop supporting big oil and support a healthy environment and American livelihoods instead," said Codepink co-founder Medea Benjamin, who was with Wilson at the hearing. "BP CEO Tony Hayward should be in jail, not a distraught shrimper!"