Veterans stage symbolic protest near pipeline protest camp

Blizzard conditions hit the  Oceti Sakowin Camp.
People inhabit the Oceti Sakowin Camp, the largest of the encampments near Standing Rock, North Dakota during heavy snow conditions on November 29, 2016.
Angela Jimenez for MPR News

Military veterans who have arrived at an encampment to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline walked into an area that has been blocked off by police and asked the officers standing guard there to lay down their arms.

A group of 15 to 20 veterans, some wearing camouflage jackets, staged the symbolic protest on Thursday evening to show their solidarity with opponents of the pipeline slated to carry oil from western North Dakota to Illinois.

Using a megaphone, police told the veterans to move away because they were trespassing. The veteran shouted back that they had served their country and had a right to be there.

The protest lasted about 40 minutes on a cold evening with snow on the ground, forcing the veterans to scramble over mounds of snow during the peaceful demonstration.

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