Veterans plan to be human shields at pipeline

A showdown looms as thousands of veterans from around the country head to North Dakota to shield Dakota Access Pipeline protesters from police.

The plan by an unarmed citizens’ militia, called Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, coincides with North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s order to evacuate a protesters’ camp near the pipeline construction site in Cannon Ball, N.D., south of Bismarck.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which leases the lands for grazing, has also ordered the camp closed to all public access as of Monday. Both said the threat of approaching winter weather to public safety required their action.

The Corps of Engineers has said it won’t forcibly roust the camp, which has grown to an estimated 10,000 people. However, if campers stay, it is at their own risk, officials said. Temperatures can fall to the single digits during the day and below zero at night in winter. Snow and strong winds also arrived this past week.

Emergency services to the camp will not be guaranteed under Dalrymple’s evacuation unless approved case by case by the state Highway Patrol or the Morton County sheriff.

Protesters say about 2,000 veterans are expected to arrive Sunday to join the fight by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its allies against the pipeline.

The $3.8 billion oil pipeline through four states is finished except for the last portion, where it would cross under the Missouri River, less than a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

Veterans Stand for Standing Rock will take its direction from tribal elders, said Marshal Hunter of Seattle, who coordinated veterans leaving for North Dakota. “We are there to be peaceful, and there to be nonviolent,” Hunter said.

Police have said demonstrators have been “aggressive,” “militant,” broken the law by trespassing, vandalism, arson and thrown rocks, and damaged a bridge when they burned vehicles.

But Hunter said the show of force against demonstrators is way out of line.