Thread by @UR_Ninja

LIVE: Thousands Rally At Minnesota Capitol to #StopLine3 twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Winona LaDuke calls on President Biden to stop the #Line3 tar sands pipeline project, noting that a federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) hasn’t been done at a federal level.

Lack of a proper federal EIS was the reason that a federal judge found the Dakota Access Pipeline was built illegally. (DAPL is still operating as this ruling is being appealed.)

unicornriot.ninja/2020/federal-j…

A Democratic delegation from the Minnesota House & Senate is now speaking about their attempts to #StopLine3 in the MN state legislature:

A banner reading 'Water is Life' was just unveiled by the mentorship group Youth N Power - it was made by volunteers at George Floyd Square

New security fence that wasn’t here on Saturday has been set up at the MN capitol for today’s #StopLine3 protest. Similar perimeter was here throughout 2020 but hasn’t been seen for a while this year

Another new fence specifically protects statues at the Minnesota Capitol - clusters or of state troopers inside this fence are gathered around each statue.

During the #GeorgeFloyd uprising last year, Indigenous protesters toppled the statue of Christopher Columbus outside the Minnesota Capitol grounds: unicornriot.ninja/2020/felony-ch…

“This is more than a pipeline. This is about justice - racial justice, environmental justice, social justice - we’re here because it’s time to honor those treaties…”
- Dawn Goodwin from the White Earth reservation

The police presence at the Mn capitol for today’s rally against #Line3 is mostly state troopers but also includes some other agencies involved in the Northern Lights Task Force who aren’t usually seen at protests in the Twin Cities.

This includes Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) Conservation Officers, seen w duffel bags that likely contain crowd control supplies:

The large law enforcement presence surveilling today’s #StopLine3 rally at the capitol includes deputies from the Anoka County Sheriff (St. Paul, where the MN capitol is, is not in Anoka County.)

Anoka deputies have also been deploying to anti-#Line3 actions in Northern MN:

Some surveillance aircraft seen over today’s rally as well - police use of ‘spy planes’ over protests in the Twin Cities, including events with no allegations of law-breaking, has increased dramatically over the last year.

Law enforcement outside the capitol made up mostly of Minnesota State Patrol but sheriffs from various counties also present -agencies not always apparent via uniforms. Outside officers from elsewhere in the state may be bolstering their work monitoring #Line3 opponents today

Thousands of people have been gathered outside the Minnesota capitol for hours now as the Indigenous-led rally calls on Governor Walz and President Biden to stop the #Line3 tar sands oil pipeline as its construction nears completion.

Another look at the extensive police presence at today’s anti-#Line3 event - MN DNR Conservation Officers just replaced formations of MSP state troopers at a 6:30 PM shift change

Water protectors opposing #Line3 just announced they’ll be occupying/staying at the Capitol to demand the cancellation of state and federal permits for the environmentally harmful tar sands pipeline that will ship oil across Minnesota for international export

The massive police operation around the #Line3 protest at the MN Capitol includes about a dozen members of the Washington County Mobile Field Force (mobile field force is cop jargon for SWAT teams/riot cops). The MN Capitol is in Ramsey County, not Washington County