Green Party’s Jill Stein Charged With Pipeline Trespass, Mischief

Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein has been charged with trespassing and mischief linked to a protest over a North Dakota pipeline.

Stein was part of a group protesting the Dakota Access pipeline and spray-painted construction equipment, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said.

Native American protestors and their supporters are confronted by security during a demonstration against work being done for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) oil pipeline, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, September 3, 2016.

A video of Stein spray painting the bulldozer was posted on Twitter by a Bismarck news station on Wednesday afternoon.

As of Tuesday evening, no case had been brought against Stein yet, but Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said in a statement that his office plans to pursue trespass and vandalism charges.

On Tuesday, Stein doubled down, posting a photo of her spray-painting the equipment with a caption calling the DAPL “vandalism on steroids”.

A judge has temporarily forced the Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners to halt construction, and is due to decide on Friday whether to withdraw the company’s building permits.

About 200 people protested at the construction site two miles east of State Highway 6 about 20 miles south of Mandan, and two protesters bound their hands to bulldozers for several hours.

Tribe spokesman Steve Sitting Bear disagreed, telling reporters that security dogs bit six protesters and a young child.

The charges against Stein and Baraka are punishable by up to 30 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines.

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Kirchmeier said about 25 officers responded and saw masked or goggled protesters on horses, others holding hatchets. Republican candidate Donald Trump holds 39.2 percent while his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton is at 41.3. “It can not be allowed to go forward”, she added. “We approve of their vision and courage”. She was also arrested in Texas in 2012, during her previous presidential campaign, for another protest against another oil pipeline.