Students walk out of class to protest Trump, Dakota Access oil pipeline
Hundreds of students from various high schools and middle schools around the Twin Cities walked out Friday afternoon to protest President-elect Donald Trump and the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The students' rally marked a third day of protests against Trump's victory in the Twin Cities and nationwide.
A protest Thursday night in Minneapolis drew thousands of people and temporarily shut down Interstate 94. The night before, a smaller anti-Trump gathering in St. Paul caused disruptions to Green Line light rail service.
The Friday protest started with a meet-up in downtown Minneapolis at The Commons, a public green space near U.S. Bank Stadium.
After that, the protesters split off into multiple groups.
Some entered a U.S. Bank Plaza building and unfurled a large banner decrying the Dakota Access oil pipeline, advocating for the megabank to stop funding the project.
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Cherokee Senevisai, 16, a leader of the group that unfurled the banner in the bank building, emphasized that the protest stay peaceful.
Rachel Lawrence, a senior at Minneapolis' Roosevelt High School, said she attended the protest for both its tenets.
"All people have a right to clean water and quality of life," she said. "Trump's rhetoric has opposed these."
Clifton Hollow, a ninth-grader from South High School, said he came to rally for those at the Standing Rock oil pipeline protest, where he spent about half of last month. He said it was painful for him to see what was happening there.