Anti-pipeline protesters in North Dakota have said they would defy a federal order to leave their protest encampment.
On Friday, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe said that the US Army Corps of Engineers sent him a letter demanding that activists protesting in the area shut down the Oceti Sakowin camp, which is one of the three camps located near the construction site.
However, the tribe leader, Dave Archambault, and other protest organizers said Saturday they would stay there with nonviolent protests.
“We are wardens of this land. This is our land and they can’t remove us,” said protester Isaac Weston, who is an Oglala Sioux member from South Dakota. “We have every right to be here to protect our land and to protect our water.”
“We are staying here, committed to our prayer,” said Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network. “Forced removal and state oppression? This is nothing new to us as native…