2,000 vets vow to defend Dakota pipeline protesters

More than 2,000 veterans have announced plans to assemble in an effort to protect protesters at the Standing Rock Native American Reservation in North Dakota next week. 

The effort, called Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, is meant to be a nonviolent intervention to defend protesters from what they described as “assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force.”

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Protesters have camped out for months at the Oceti Sakowin camp to protest the proposed 1,170-mile Dakota Access Pipeline. But law enforcement officials have threatened to impose fines and block supply deliveries. 

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) issued a mandatory evacuation order for the activists, citing “anticipated harsh weather conditions.” 

But protesters have vowed not to leave. 

The veterans event was organized by Michael A. Wood Jr., who served in the Marine Corps, and screenwriter Wesley Clark Jr., according to The New York Times.

While Wood told the Times he initially hoped to attract 500 veterans, 2,000 now plan to come. 

“We have every age, we have every war,” he said. 

The group has also launched a GoFundMe page to pay for food, transportation and supplies, and has raised $657,000 of its $1 million goal as of Wednesday morning. 

Event organizers indicated it could have more “missions” in the future, including one as early as the second week of December. 

“We’re doing this to support our country so lets do it with honor, working together,” event organizers wrote on the event’s Facebook page. Organizers also wrote that they planned to form a human shield around protestors.

“We can stop this savage injustice being committed right here at home. If not us, who? If not now, when?