‘They #criminalize us’: how #felony charges are weaponized against #PipelineProtesters

Twenty states have passed laws that criminalize protesting, including on infrastructure including #pipelines. In #Minnesota, at least 66 felony theft charges against #Line3 protesters remain open

Alexandria Herr for Floodlight
Thu 10 Feb 2022

"Last summer [2021] Sabine von Mering, a professor of German at Brandeis University, drove more than 1,500 miles from Boston to Minneapolis to protest against the replacement of the Line 3 #OilPipeline that stretches from #Canada’s #TarSands down to Minnesota.

"Along with another protester, she locked herself to a semi-truck in the middle of a roadway, according to a filed court brief, as a means of #peaceful #resistance. But when she was arrested, she was charged with a serious crime: felony theft, which carries up to five years in prison.

"'It’s very scary that they criminalize us like that, and to face jail time,' said Von Mering, 54, of her June arrest. 'But what can I do? I feel responsible to my kids and #FutureGenerations.'

"The felony charges come as more than a dozen states have passed laws to criminalize #FossilFuel protests, and as the federal government has ramped up its own tactics for surveilling and penalizing protesters.

"Von Mering is one of nearly 900 protesters who were arrested in Minnesota for protesting against the pipeline’s construction, with the vast majority of arrests taking place during the summer of 2021, and one of dozens facing felony charges. Construction on the Line 3 pipeline was finalized in October 2021 and carries 760,000 barrels of oil per day across northern Minnesota. But its construction for years has stoked fierce protests and legal challenges, led by #Indigenous activists in northern Minnesota who worried about potential impacts of oil spills and the pipeline’s threat to #treaty rights to gather wild rice. While most of the arrests have led to misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor charges for crimes including 'disturbing the peace' and 'trespassing', felony charges like Von Mering’s mean protesters are facing years of jail time.

"Legal advocates say that in Minnesota the elevated charges are a novel tactic to challenge protest actions against pipeline construction. They see them as furthering evidence of close ties between Minnesota’s government and the #FossilFuelIndustry. It follows reporting by the Guardian that the Canadian pipeline company #Enbridge, which is building Line 3, reimbursed Minnesota’s #police department $2.4m for time spent arresting protesters and on equipment including ballistic helmets. Experts say the reimbursement strategy for arrests is a new technique in both Minnesota and across the US, and there’s concern it can be replicated.

"'I do a lot of representation for people in political protests and I’ve never seen anything like that,' said Jordan Kushner, a defense attorney representing clients charged in relation to Line 3 protests.

"Two of Kushner’s clients were charged with felony 'aiding attempted suicide' charges for crawling inside a pipe. The charge is for someone who 'intentionally advises, encourages, or assists another who attempts but fails to take the other’s own life', according to Minnesota law and carries up to a seven-year sentence. Authorities alleged that the protesters were endangering their lives by remaining inside the pipeline."

Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/10/felony-charges-pipeline-protesters-line-3

Judge dismisses #pipeline #protest charges against 3 #Native women

Kirsti Marohn
Brainerd, #Minnesota
September 18, 2023 3:45 PM

"Opponents of the #Line3 oil pipeline are celebrating an Aitkin County judge’s decision to dismiss charges against three Native women related to a 2021 protest.

"Activists #WinonaLaDuke, #TaniaAubid and #DawnGoodwin helped lead rallies as #Enbridge began work on a new #OilPipeline across northern Minnesota more than two years ago.

"The charges against them stemmed from a rally on Jan. 9, 2021, when a large group gathered at a pipeline construction site near the #MississippiRiver in Aitkin County. 

"The opponents, who called themselves #WaterProtectors carried signs and walked down a county road. Some Native women danced in jingle dresses, a healing tradition.

"Some group members later moved to another Aitkin County location, where they walked along U.S. Highway 169 and refused to leave a Line 3 construction site.

"LaDuke, Goodwin and Aubid were not arrested on Jan. 9. Authorities charged them weeks later by summons after identifying them in social media posts. They faced gross misdemeanor charges of trespassing and harassment, as well as misdemeanor unlawful assembly and public nuisance.

"A jury trial was scheduled to begin this week. But in a forceful opinion filed Sept. 14, District Court Judge Leslie Metzen dismissed all the charges.

"Metzen’s order noted the government’s historical mistreatment of #Indigenous people.

"'In the last 20 years I have come to a broader understanding of what we, the now dominant culture, did to try to eradicate our indigenous neighbors,' she wrote. 'We moved them by force and power and violence off the land where they lived for thousands of years. To make peace, we signed treaties with them that promised many things they never received.'

"Metzen wrote that she finds it 'within the furtherance of justice' to protect the defendants who were peacefully protesting to protect the land addressed in those treaties.

"She wrote that as respected members of #Anishinaabe tribes, LaDuke, Aubid and Goodwin were exercising their #FreeSpeech rights and #spiritual beliefs, including 'their heartfelt belief that the waters of Minnesota need to be protected from damage that could result from the #pipeline.'

'To criminalize their behavior would be the crime,' she added."

Read more:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/09/18/judge-dismisses-pipeline-protest-charges-against-3-native-women