U.S. veterans to form human shield at
Dakota pipeline protest
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[December 01, 2016]
By Terray Sylvester
CANNON BALL, N.D. (Reuters) - More than
2,000 U.S. military veterans plan to form a human shield to protect
protesters of a pipeline project near a Native American reservation in
North Dakota, organizers said, just ahead of a federal deadline for
activists to leave the camp they have been occupying.
It comes as North Dakota law enforcement backed away from a previous
plan to cut off supplies to the camp – an idea quickly abandoned after
an outcry and with law enforcement’s treatment of Dakota Access Pipeline
protesters increasingly under the microscope.
The protesters have spent months rallying against plans to route the
$3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing
Rock Sioux reservation, saying it poses a threat to water resources and
sacred Native American sites.
Protesters include various Native American tribes as well as
environmentalists and even actors including Shailene Woodley.
State officials issued an order on Monday for activists to vacate the
Oceti Sakowin camp, located on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land near
Cannon Ball, North Dakota, citing harsh weather conditions.
The state's latest decision not to stop cars entering the protest site
indicated local officials will not actively enforce Monday's emergency
order to evacuate the camp issued by Governor Jack Dalrymple.
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Dalrymple warned on Wednesday that it was "probably not feasible" to
reroute the pipeline, but said he had requested a meeting with the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council to rebuild a relationship.
"We need to begin now to talk about how we are going to return to a
peaceful relationship,” he said on a conference call.
The 1,172-mile (1,885 km) pipeline project, owned by Texas-based Energy
Transfer Partners LP <ETP.N>, is mostly complete, except for a segment
planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the
Missouri River.
Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, a contingent of more than 2,000 U.S.
military veterans, intends to go to North Dakota by this weekend and
form a human wall in front of police, protest organizers said on a
Facebook page. Organizers could not immediately be reached for comment.
"I figured this was more important than anything else I could be doing,”
Guy Dull Knife, 69, a Vietnam War Army veteran, told Reuters at the main
camp.
Dull Knife, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe from the Pine Ridge
Reservation of South Dakota, said he has been camping at the protest
site for months.
Morton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rob Keller said in an email his
agency was aware of the veterans' plans, but would not comment further
on how law enforcement will deal with demonstrators.
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![](../images/120116pics/news_f11.jpg)
A man from the Comanche tribe sits by a fire in the Oceti Sakowin
camp during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access
pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon
Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
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Former U.S. Marine Michael A. Wood Jr is leading the effort along
with Wesley Clark Jr, a writer whose father is retired U.S. Army
General Wesley Clark.
U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii and a
major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, has said on Twitter she
will join the protesters on Sunday.
The Army Corps, citing safety concerns, has ordered the evacuation
of the primary protest camp by Dec. 5, but said it would not
forcibly remove people from the land.
Local law enforcement said on Tuesday they planned a blockade of the
camp, but local and state officials later retreated, saying they
would only check vehicles for certain prohibited supplies like
propane, and possibly issue fines.
Dalrymple on Wednesday said state officials never contemplated
forcibly removing protesters and there had been no plans to block
food or other supplies from the camp. "That would be a huge mistake
from a humanitarian standpoint," he said on the conference call.
He also warned protesters that while emergency responders will try
to reach anyone in need, that would be contingent on weather
conditions.
Protesters, who refer to themselves as “water protectors,” have been
gearing up for the winter while they await the Army Corps decision
on whether to allow Energy Transfer Partners to tunnel under the
river. That decision has been delayed twice by the Army Corps.
(Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston and Alex
Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by
Jeffrey Benkoe and Matthew Lewis)
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