Pipeline protesters urge unity after days of confrontations
CANNON BALL, N.D. — Protesters trying to block the Dakota Access oil pipeline urged unity on Saturday as they prayed together near burned-out construction vehicles that served as a barricade between activists and law enforcement officers.
Following two days of confrontations with law enforcement, at least 150 people prayed near the barricade in chilly, cloudy weather in southern North Dakota. Women in Native American regalia participated in the prayer, which stressed the need for protesters to work together. Opponents of the project have been camped near the pipeline route for months in an effort to stop construction.
“Our camp needs to continue to be peaceful and prayerful,” Caroline High Elk, who has stayed at the encampment for brief periods eight times over the past few months, said Saturday. “But there are some who are been aggressive and energetic in a way because they want to be the fearless warrior.”
The $3.8 billion pipeline was designed to carry oil 1,200 miles from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point at Patoka, Illinois. But the Standing Rock Sioux tribe objects to the project, saying it passes so close to its reservation that any leak could pollute the local water supply. They also said the pipeline could disturb sacred cultural sites.