According to the AP, Stein and Baraka are accused of spray painting on a bulldozer at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation during a protest against a planned oil pipeline. Last week she faced a smaller problem, in comparison, when she showed up to the wrong OH city for a rally.
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Stein, who came out last month against the pipeline, could be seen wielding a can of spray paint in a photo posted Tuesday to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s Facebook page. On the bulldozer she wrote “I approve this message”. She also said pipeline personnel at that time released dogs on protesters.
Stein, who is running on an anti-war, clean-energy platform joined a group of 150-200 protesters at the site, some of whom allegedly vandalized construction equipment and attached themselves to bulldozers.
On Twitter, Stein mused, “State of ND may charge me with vandalism”.
A federal judge is set to deliver a key ruling on the four-state Dakota Access pipeline that has drawn thousands of protesters to a construction site in North Dakota in recent weeks.
“I hope they take action against the Dakota Access Pipeline company that is endangering drinking water not only for the Standing Rock Sioux, but for millions of people downstream of the reservation who depend on the Missouri River”, Stein said in the statement.
Scoring national airtime has been a focus for Stein’s campaign as well as that of Libertarian Gary Johnson, who will also appear on Nebraskans’ ballots in the November 8 general election.
According to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, the protest took place at around 10:30 a.m., and protesters gathered at a building area at County Road 35 and Highway 6, 2 miles east of Highway 1806.
The Saturday a confrontation between hundreds of protesters and private security forces resulted in three reported injuries among guards, though protesters claimed security also formed a barricade with dogs that attacked them.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II said he is not concerned with the additional law enforcement presence at the site of the protest, where thousands have camped out for weeks, and that the judge’s ruling will not stop the protest either way.
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With a court decision looming, and the National Guard on hand, a tribe protesting an oil pipeline from North Dakota said it was calling for peace. That university is hosting the first presidential debate in 2016 and Stein vows to show up regardless of if she receives an invite.
