3,500 US military veterans ‘to put bodies on the line’ in Dakota pipeline protest

Activists participate in an art project conceived by Cannupa Hunska Luger, from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 3, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Photo by AFP)

Thousands of US military veterans have gathered in a mass show of support for Native Americans and their allies battling the Dakota Access Pipeline.

According to reports, as many as 3,500 veterans are joining protests against the multibillion-dollar oil pipeline project near a Native American reservation.  

Thousands of veterans have already arrived at the Oceti Sakowin Camp near the small town of Cannon Ball in North Dakota.  

The veterans, organized under the banner “Veterans Stand for Standing Rock,” said on Saturday they will put their bodies on the line to assist thousands of activists who have spent months demonstrating against plans to route the pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.  

Activists talk at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 3, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Photo by AFP)

Invoking the nonviolent protest tactics of Mohandas K. Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,

The veterans pledged to peacefully support the unarmed Native American protesters.

“In the ultimate expression of alliance, we are there to put our bodies on the line, no matter the physical cost, in complete nonviolence,” wrote the group’s in its “operations order.”

“Our mission is to prevent progress on the Dakota Access Pipeline and draw national attention to the human rights warriors of the Sioux tribes,” the group added.

The Army has warned that it would close the camp and force out the protesters, who have been staying there in the region’s freezing cold temperatures.

Hawk Laughing, a Mohawk originally from northern New York, helps to build a tipi at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 3, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.  (Photo by AFP)

"Men and women who fought for our nation are now standing up for the first occupants of this land. They're saying enough is enough," said David Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe."It's symbolic for us."

He said the veterans intended to remain peaceful as they supported their protest over the $3.8 billion pipeline.

“It’s history in the making,” said Kenny Nagy, a 64-year-old Vietnam veteran. “We’re going to be actually helping out people of the United States instead of corporations. I am so ready. The whole world is watching.”

American Indian activists ride along the road outside Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 3, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Photo by AFP) 

Tasheena Cloud said that she and the thousands of other veterans will remain peaceful when they put themselves between law enforcement officers and Native American demonstrators.

But she said she was not sure how police and the North Dakota National Guard will respond to their move.

“I don’t know what to expect,” she said. “I just know I’ll put myself in harm’s way.”

For months, activists opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline have been camping in the area to protest the pipeline.

The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Native American tribes are seeking to stop the project because they say it will harm their drinking water and sacred sites.

US military veterans are briefed on camps rules and their mission at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on Saturday, December 3, 2016, outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Photo by Getty Images)

But pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners disputes that, saying the 1,885-km pipeline is safe and the fastest route to bring Bakken shale oil from North Dakota to oil refineries in the US Gulf Coast.

Protests against the pipeline have spread across the US. More than 560 protesters have been arrested since August protesting the pipeline.

A clash last month near the main protest camp left a police officer and several protesters injured.

Over 300 protesters were treated for hypothermia and other ailments after they were soaked by officers in freezing temperatures.