Lawsuits

This article, by Winona LaDuke, informs us about some of the horrific actions by the police on peaceful protesters. Specifically Sophia Wilansky, whose arm was blown off by a concussion grenade. 

The article also informs us that over 550 people have been arrested by the police in North Dakota during these protests, and oftentimes the protesters have be robbed of their rights and strip searched for these misdemeanor charges.

SLAPP lawsuites, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, are widely banned in the United States with 33 states having anti-SLAPP laws in place, however, North Dakota is not one of those states. These lawsuites are oftentimes used to bully smaller companies or in this case nonprofit into diverting time and resources away from whatever issue is happening. 

In this specific case ETP acused GreenPeace of organizing the protests against DAPL. Even though the case was thrown out at the federal level they brought it down to the state level in North Dakota. 

This article talks about the injustice of the legal system in North Dakota, throwing out Sophia Wilansky's case, on grounds of Qualified Immunity.