North Dakota backs away from checking cars headed to pipeline protest

People have gathered for months at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to oppose the Dakota Access pipeline, which is being built to carry oil from western North Dakota to a shipping point in IL.

Protests of the four-state, 1,172-mile pipeline have been ongoing since mid-August near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Among the veterans will be former Marine Jade Emilio Snell of Billings. “It’s attractive”, said Shasta of the recently fallen snow. “So, they will be shooting or threatening the uniform of the United States military. Only when protesters have broken the law have they been arrested or asked to disperse”.

“As a tribal nation, we call on the President to take all the appropriate steps to ensure water protectors are safe and that their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly are protected”, he said.

He believes the veterans coming to Standing Rock have been misinformed and should not be supporting a movement that has “broken laws, destroyed property and attacked law enforcement”.

The willingness of our veterans to join in on a battle after serving is admirable and hopefully impactful.

Protesters gather at an encampment on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016, a day after tribal leaders received a letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that told them the federal land would be closed to the public on December 5, near Cannon Ball, N.D. “They have been on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land without a permit”.

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.

“He goes, ‘I have nothing against you, ‘ and I said, ‘No, I know that, ‘” Snell relates.

“You have a government agency trying to declare us trespassers on our own treaty land and threatening to penalize us, criminally charge us and possibly forcibly round us up if we don’t return to the reservation”, he said.

“When we get there, we’re not just Latinos, blacks or whites, we are veterans”, Marroquin stated. Although he is not part of the Sioux tribe, Snell says it’s time for Native Americans across the country to say enough is enough.

Parker explained to USA Today that she and the other veterans are not concerned about violent treatment, because it would only bring more attention to the cause. Regan says more than 300 people were injured or sickened.

“We cross waters more than 38 thousand times (in the US). And I’m exhausted of the treaties being broken”.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault told CNN the protest would continue even though protesters have been ordered to vacate an area where they have set up camp by next Monday.