On Tuesday, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein traveled to North Dakota to protest the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline that is currently under construction. At the protest, Stein was seen vandalizing a bulldozer.
A video posted to Twitter shows Stein spray painting the bulldozer while being cheered on by a crowd of protesters. On the bulldozer she wrote “I approve this message.”
Presidential candidate .@DrJillStein graffitis #DAPL equipment. pic.twitter.com/utKbzK7wkV
— KX News – Bismarck (@KXMB) September 6, 2016
According to the Bismarck Tribune, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier says that Stein could face charges for vandalism and possibly trespassing.
Kirchmeier said the sheriff’s department is “working up the information through the state’s attorney’s office to pursue charges” against Stein and that “the incident is actually still ongoing as we speak.”
No arrests have yet been made, he added: “We are actively investigating these incidents, either by video or social media to identify people that have taken place in this. We will pursue charges as needed.”
Stein was accompanied by 150 protesters at the construction site of an oil pipeline, where demonstrations have been ongoing for days. Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline believe it has the potential to leak into the Missouri River.
The Bismarck Tribune also reported that “some protesters were on horses, masks, and some carrying hatchets and wearing goggles.” This led to law enforcement officers having to leave the scene for their own safety.
This comes after heated protests about the construction of this pipeline close to Native American reservations. Many of the protesters say the construction is taking place on burial grounds.
A federal judge approved a temporary halt on construction on some of the pipeline, according to ABC News.
Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, LLC , the company contracted to complete the pipeline, issued a statement about protests that took place over the weekend: “What has been represented over the past several weeks as a peaceful protest is simply not the case. We are greatly saddened and extremely bothered to confirm that today, unwarranted violence occurred on private property under easement to Dakota Access Pipeline, resulting in injury to multiple members of our security personnel and several dogs.
“Assailants broke through a fence and attacked our workers. We are working with law enforcement to ensure that all offenders are arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The private security group hired to guard the Dakota Access Pipeline were also injured when protesters resorted to violence. The security guards were also had guard dogs to help deter the protesters who were chaining themselves to construction equipment and torn down fences.
Videos have surfaced online depicting protesters attacking the leashed guard dogs with wooden sticks.
Protesters claim they were pepper-sprayed and bitten by the dogs. Law enforcement is working to identify people who have committed crimes at the protests.
However as yet, no arrests have been made. Stein has responded to the the sheriff claiming he wanted to charge her on social media casting herself as an eco freedom fighter and calling the Dakota Access Pipeline “vandalism on steroids”.
I hope ND presses charges against the real vandals who bulldoze sacred burial sites. #NoDAPL https://t.co/34e6stP5wQ pic.twitter.com/6Hn3LT1500
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 7, 2016
State of ND may charge me with vandalism. Will they charge the oil company that razed sacred burial grounds? #NoDAPL https://t.co/PAYmyN2FCm
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 6, 2016