As Winter Begins, $1000 Fine For Giving Supplies To DAPL Activists

A standing-room only crowd has filled a library in Bismarck, North Dakota, during a public forum about tribal opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline. So do hundreds of veterans.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple issued Monday a “mandatory evacuation” for the camp “to safeguard against harsh winter conditions”.

Matthew Crane, a 32-year-old Navy veteran who arrived three days ago, said the veterans joining the protest were “standing on the shoulders of Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi” with the their plans to shield protesters.

The tribe’s struggle to halt the Dakota Access pipeline completion has inspired people across the United States. “We will not be blocking supplies to people, food and water and clothing”. These persons are ordered to leave the evacuation area immediately, and are further ordered not to return to the evacuation area.

“See you all on the ground in Standing Rock”, veteran Wesley Clark Jr. tweeted Wednesday.

“We agree that it is our constitutional right to assemble and to peacefully protest”, council President Russ Stabler told reporters at the West Fargo VFW Post 7564 building.

Environmental science sophomore Anna Nelson said she attended the event because she wanted to get involved and show that she supports those fighting the pipeline. “It doesn’t matter if you are a libertarian, a conservative, or a progressive, this is everyone’s fight”.

Raymond Morrell, a U.S. Marine veteran, wants to know why veterans who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution would participate in what he considers an unlawful protest.

Supporters of the pipeline project stress not only the jobs it creates but how the country’s quest for energy independence is furthered by the crude from the oil-rich Bakken Formation in the upper plains. But the protesters are saying they aren’t going anywhere.

Officials later said they had “no plans for forcible removal” and said any activists who wanted to stay could, but anyone staying would be unauthorized.

Young included a video of him singing against the backdrop of the protest camp. Asked whether the order was meant to release the state from liability should a protester be hurt, the governor said he was “not sure about the law”, and that he thought it was “our duty to warn them of danger”. “Any action or inaction taken by any party which encourages persons to enter, reenter, or remain in the evacuation area will be subject to penalties as defined in law”.

The pipeline is created to carry oil 1,200 miles from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point at Patoka, Illinois.

It would cut through the Sioux Tribe’s reservation, and the tribe says it could potentially destroy sacred lands and prevent access to clean drinking water. The lawsuit alleges Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirschmeier and others used excessive force against protesters on November 20 at a blockaded bridge on a state highway. After almost five months of protest, officials are turning up the pressure, telling demonstrators to leave now or face the consequences. “They could use some of our help”.

The long haul could present a problem as she is bringing no tent, the common shelter for demonstrators.