On Feb 19, a family-friendly caravan disrupted traffic at several #Line3 construction routes. During the event, authorities announced a baseless bomb threat via FEMA’s Wireless Emergency Alerts system, which prompted backlash from locals who believed protesters were at fault.
While the caravan was stopped at the 3rd disruption area, authorities sent the “Imminent extreme alert” SMS messages to cell phones in Aitkin, St Louis, Pine, and Carlton Counties. 
This “potential explosive hazard” turned out to be false, but the psychological effects were real with the ensuing backlash. Carlton County Sheriff's Office published two press releases making unsubstantiated connections between the water protectors and the "hazard."
To longtime activists and water protectors, these tactics by the State are old news. During the Nov 20, 2016 Highway 1806 standoff between water protectors and law enforcement at Standing Rock, an Instantaneous Blast CS grenade blew up directly on 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky.
In an attempt to deflect blame onto the water protectors themselves, Morton County Sheriff’s spokesperson stated that the police couldn’t have inflicted that “type of damage to her arm” and said that “protesters” were “rigging up their own explosives."unicornriot.ninja/2016/nodapl-wa…
Taysha Martineau, a Fond Du Lac Band member and part of Camp Migizi, told the Healing Minnesota Stories blog: “The criminalization of water protectors and Indigenous leaders of the resistance is a tale as old as time immemorial.” #Line3 - Learn more here: unicornriot.ninja/2021/caravan-d…
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