Anti-Abortion Activist Climbs Sphere in Las Vegas
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Posted on: February 7, 2024, 02:15h.
Last updated on: February 7, 2024, 02:50h.
A pro-life activist climbed to the top of the Sphere in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning. Maison Des Champs, a 23-year-old free-climber and anti-abortion activist who calls himself the “Pro-Life Spiderman,” free-climbed to the top of the 367-foot-tall concert venue where he walked around and livestreamed an Instagram video before getting arrested.
“The individual has been taken into custody without further incident,” tweeted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who greeted Des Champs via a hatch in the Sphere’s roof, at 11:30 a.m.
Des Champs’ climb was timed to grab the extra global attention focused on Las Vegas in advance of Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.
No Sphere of Heights
“Hey guys, I’m here on top of the Sphere,” Des Champs said in his Instagram video, during which the venue’s giant LED pixels reflected in his glasses and the voices of police could be heard trying to talk him down.
“I just wanted to say that we are doing this today to raise money for a mother named Isabel. She is homeless and pregnant and needs help, guys. Big thanks, praise be to God. I will talk to you all later.”
The climb caused major traffic delays on the Strip, which was already congested ahead of the big game. Las Vegas police asked people to avoid the area and to expect road closures due to responding emergency vehicles.
Not His First Climb
Des Champs was arrested last year in San Francisco for climbing to the top of Salesforce Tower, California’s second-tallest skyscraper at 1,070 feet, also to protest abortion.
He was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors — one for trespassing and another for resisting a police investigation because he didn’t follow police orders to stop climbing.
“I don’t have any regrets, he told ABC News affiliate KGO-TV, identifying himself as a UNLV senior at the time.
Las Vegas police were already familiar with Des Champs since they also arrested him after he scaled the 600-foot Aria in 2021. That climb was to protest COVID mask restrictions. Des Champs was charged with one count each of trespassing not amounting to burglary, and disorderly conduct. He claimed the charges, both misdemeanors, were later dropped.
“This reckless act is extremely dangerous & very illegal,” Metro Capt. Doi Koren wrote in a social media post at the time.
Des Champs performs all his climbs ropeless.
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