More than 2,000 veterans expected to form human shield at ND pipeline protest

CANNON BALL, N.D.— More than 2,000 U.S. military veterans plan to form a human shield to protect protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline project near a Native American reservation in North Dakota, organizers said, just ahead of a federal deadline for activists to leave the camp they have been occupying.

It comes as North Dakota law enforcement backed away from a previous plan to cut off supplies to the camp -- an idea quickly abandoned after an outcry and with law enforcement's treatment of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters increasingly under the microscope.

Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, a contingent of more than 2,000 U.S. military veterans, intends to go to North Dakota by this weekend and form a human wall in front of police, protest organizers said on a Facebook page. Organizers could not immediately be reached for comment.

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/region/4169898-more-2000-veterans-expected-form-human-shield-nd-pipeline-protest