Things have been ugly for a long time at the front lines of the protest against the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. Some days will see celebrity guests like Mark Ruffalo and Jesse Jackson standing with the demonstrators, while others are marked by plumes of black smoke from burning tires stacked up as barricades.
The situation isn’t going to get better before it gets worse, if only due to a harsh drop in the temperature in North Dakota, and especially if a threat to block supplies to protesters comes to pass.
BREAKING: Law enforcement to block supplies to North Dakota pipeline protesters as winter sets in
— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) November 29, 2016
A group called Veterans Stand For Standing Rock has announced it will bring body armor, gas masks, earplugs, and as many as 2,000 veterans to the protest site, but there have also been reports that some white allies on the ground are treating the gathering more like a hippie campout than an environmental protest.
https://twitter.com/BeEtLjOoZ/status/803388307497488384
The Washington Times quotes one Facebook user complaining that white people “are treating it like it is Burning Man or The Rainbow Gathering and I even witnessed several wandering in and out of camps comparing it to those festivals.”
https://twitter.com/MetricButtload/status/803397514397249536
Seriously, if anyone is 'insulting their heritage' it's the smelly out-of-state hippies squatting on their land.
— Full Frontal Yeti (@BigWyo626) November 29, 2016
One celebrity ally is actor Matt McGorry from “Orange Is the New Black” and “How to Get Away with Murder,” who on Wednesday showed demonstrators taking a different tack from burning tires; instead, they chanted “I love you” to law enforcement officers.
Peaceful water protectors chant "I love you" to heavily militarized LEOs.
Remember this when they try to evict the camps on 12/5. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/63nhZOxjb3
— Matt McGorry (@MattMcGorry) November 30, 2016
Van Jones, who has spoken at protests against the pipeline and declared “oil is death,” retweeted the video and declared the protesters a “love army.”
#LoveArmy https://t.co/Jlu8y5lfXL
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 30, 2016
https://twitter.com/ElizQuake/status/804113038878113792
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