Anti-Dakota Access pipeline protesters have today marched to Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn to demand that the democratic presidential candidate make a stand against the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt livestreamed a crowd of protesters marching through Brooklyn Heights chanting and carrying anti-pipeline banners.
“Our aim today is to go to Hillary Clinton’s office and ask her to take a stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline, because as our future president, she’s going to have to work for us someday,” said one of the protesters.
The protesters later erected a tepee inside the office foyer and played a traditional drum in a largely peaceful demonstration which appeared to be uninterrupted by security services or police during the livestream.
Clinton’s opponent in the presidential race, Donald Trump, recently released financial disclosure forms showing that he has both invested in Energy Transfer Partners, the company responsible for the controversial pipeline, and received donations from the company’s CEO.
Trump’s enthusiastic backing of the fossil fuel industry has been interpreted as an attempt to appeal to blue-collar workers concerned by economic decline in their industries, especially in important swing-states such as Ohio, where he currently holds a slight lead over Clinton.
Clinton campaign offices, including one in Seattle, Washington, were also targeted in solidarity with the Brooklyn protest. The campaign has thus far remained silent on the protests.