Green Party’s Jill Stein Charged In Pipeline Protest After Violence Breaks Out, Pipeline Construction Halted
Warrants have been filed for the arrests of Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka over their actions at a Native American pipeline protest in North Dakota.
Stein and her running mate are wanted by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department for criminal trespass and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors, for supporting the protesters at the pipeline protest, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
The sheriff’s department filed charges after watching a video of Stein spray-painting construction equipment with the words “I approve this message” and Baraka writing, “decolonization” and “We need decolonization.”
The video was published on YouTube by the Jill Stein for President Booster Club. Stein didn’t dispute the account, but denied she committed any criminal activity, instead referring to her actions as “civil disobedience,” according to The Hill.
“I hope the North Dakota authorities press charges against the real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs.”
This isn’t the first time Stein has been wanted by law enforcement for alleged criminal activity. She was also arrested in 2012 for protesting the Keystone pipeline while running for president in Texas.
The event comes after Native Americans protesting construction of an oil pipeline across lands they consider sacred were attacked by private security guards and their dogs. At least six people were bitten by attack dogs and 30 others were pepper-sprayed when protesters passed through a wire fence and approached construction workers.
The website Democracy Now filmed the event that eventually ended with the security guards leaving the scene in a caravan of pick-up trucks, but the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said it had no knowledge of protesters being harmed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8FSKJzcfEM
They did, however, receive reports that four private security officers had been assaulted and one dog injured after hundreds of protesters crossed over into private property and approached them.
The pipeline protest, which began in April, has grown to include hundreds, some say thousands, of activists rallying against a $3.7 billion oil pipeline slated to run through sacred Native American land and across several large rivers.
The project, dubbed the Dakota Access Pipeline, is slated to run 1,100 miles from the North Dakota Bakken oil fields to the Gulf Coast. It’s designed to carry 570,000 barrels of oil every day across several large rivers including the Missouri, Mississippi, and Big Sioux along with some 200 smaller rivers.
The video below is NSFW for strong language.
In contrast, the Keystone XL Pipeline, which Obama vetoed, was scheduled to span 1,179 miles and carry 830,000 barrels of oil. Native American protesters worry a leak in the pipeline, which is possible, would contaminate the drinking water of millions of Americans living downstream, one protester told Democracy Now.
“Water is life… without water, we all wouldn’t be here. These plants wouldn’t be here, there’d be no oxygen, we’d all die without it. I wish they’d open their eyes and have a heart to realize, you know, if this happens, we’re not going to be the only ones to suffer. They’re going to suffer too.”
Native American tribes began protesting the oil pipeline in April, but when the company announced it would begin building across sacred land, the situation escalated. A grassroots effort began and soon hundreds of people gathered at what has come to be known as Sacred Stone Camp.
Tribal protest spurs halt to oil pipeline construction in North Dakota https://t.co/Rqy7tFSWCq ?
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) September 6, 2016
Now, there are members of more than 100 different tribes from across the country camped out in rural North Dakota facing down police officers, construction workers, and their security guards.
It is quickly becoming the least talked about police stand-off in recent history.
Last week, environmental groups asked the president to deny permits for construction of the pipeline, and on Tuesday a federal judge issued a short-term restraining order against pipeline construction. The order will delay construction until Friday and a broader ruling is expected from U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in just a few days.
“As a nation, our job is to break our addiction to fossil fuels, not increase our dependence on oil. I join with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and the many tribal nations fighting this dangerous pipeline.”
A Reuters poll shows Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein with 2 percent of the vote behind Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Libertarian Gary Johnson.
What do you think about the North Dakota pipeline protest?
[Photo by Alex Brandon/AP Images]
