Pipeline Opponents Allegedly Threatened Officials

Pipeline Opponents Allegedly Threatened Officials
Protesters against the Dakota Access oil pipeline stand on a burned-out truck near Cannon Ball, N.D., that they removed from a long-closed bridge a day earlier on a state highway near their camp, in this file photo. AP Photo/James MacPherson, File
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BISMARCK, N.D.—Police allege in court filings that opponents of the Dakota Access oil pipeline made threats against officers and public officials in North Dakota last year, prompting additional security for the state’s governor.

The filings are part of a lawsuit filed in November by pipeline protesters who accuse police of excessive force in a Nov. 20 clash over a blockaded bridge. Opponents of the $3.8 billion pipeline to move North Dakota oil to a shipping point in Illinois have long maintained they’ve been mistreated by law enforcement, and allege in the lawsuit that more than 200 protesters were injured in the bridge clash.

That number previously had been disputed by officials, who used tear gas, rubber bullets and water hoses on protesters who they say assaulted officers with rocks and burning logs.

Defendants haven’t yet filed a response, but Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, County Commissioner Cody Schulz and state Bureau of Criminal Investigation Criminal Intelligence Analyst Cody Larson filed affidavits in the past week to support a request to have law officers’ names redacted from public court documents for safety.

Demonstrators stand next to burning tires as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers assemble on Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
Demonstrators stand next to burning tires as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers assemble on Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP