By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI is investigating activists who are standing up against the Dakota Access pipeline, even diverting terrorism experts to focus on protesters and environmentalists.
The Guardian reports that members of the FBI’s joint terrorism task force have tried to contact at least three people involved in protecting Standing Rock in North Dakota by knocking on their doors.
The FBI declined to comment, and the focus and scope of the task force remain unknown.
“The idea that the government would attempt to construe this indigenous-led non-violent movement into some kind of domestic terrorism investigation is unfathomable to me,” said Lauren Regan, a civil rights attorney who has provided legal support to demonstrators who were contacted by representatives of the FBI. “It’s outrageous, it’s unwarranted … and it’s unconstitutional.”
The three individuals have declined to cooperate with the FBI and asserted their fifth amendment rights.
