A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, Rob Keller, told reporters the warrant was officially filed with the county and if local authorities encountered Stein in the area, “they would arrest her”. “The Dakota Access Pipeline is vandalism on steroids”, Stein wrote.
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Yesterday, Stein mused on Twitter, “State of ND may charge me with vandalism. We need to reduce fossil fuels, not expand their consumption”, Green Party Media Coordinator Scott McLarty said. As well as damage to sacred sites, protesters are also concerned that the $3.8 billion pipeline could affect the drinking water of the nearby Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation, according to NPR. The government responded by hiring a private security firm, who sicced their dogs on the protesters and pepper-sprayed at least 30 of them, some of them children.
On Tuesday, U.S. Judge James Boasberg partially granted a temporary restraining order against Dakota Access, which agreed to halt construction on portions of the pipeline.
“We’re still going to occupy each site”, she said.
The Green Party candidates are standing by their protest. Law enforcement officers were present but kept their distance and didn’t intervene. It was not clear what Stein spray painted onto the bulldozer.
“Rutgers University has a distinct and cherished place in the revolutionary history of our nation, which makes it a ideal venue to bring our message of progressive change to further advance the political revolution that has swept through the nation this year, particularly on college campuses”, said Stein. “For me, this work began long before the campaign”, she said, later noting she was arrested in the fight to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.
Stein and Baraka joined the protests this week. It is this violation for which Stein is being charged.
The crude oil pipeline would traverse four states and run through grounds the Standing Rock Sioux consider sacred (but are not protected as part of their reservation). Though protesters have asserted through a variety of mediums that they were the ones first attacked, many of their own videos purport to show the opposite occurred.
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“She could have locked down, but she didn’t want to”, she said.
