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FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force Probes Dakota Pipeline Protesters

© AP Photo / Damian DovarganesDakota Access Pipeline Protest
Dakota Access Pipeline Protest - Sputnik International
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The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is currently investigating several individuals who are protesting against the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline at near the Native American Standing Rock reservation, media reported, citing an activists’ attorney.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to The Guardian newspaper, Lauren Regan, a civil rights attorney who has actively provided legal support for protesters, said that three individuals, including a Native American, have been approached by JTTF officers. In each case, the officer came without a subpoena, but instead with a request for a voluntary interview, Regan added.

All three individuals were contacted in the weeks following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the newspaper added.

While the motive behind the investigations is not known, the attorney regarded the approaches as "outrageous," "unwarranted," and "unconstitutional," noting that the mere implication of non-violent demonstrates in a domestic terrorism investigation was "unfathomable," The Guardian reported.

Dakota Access Pipeline Protest - Sputnik International
Dakota Access Pipeline Restarts Construction, Tribe Renews Legal Fight
The nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access pipeline is intended to transport domestically produced light crude oil from the US state of North Dakota through the states of South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois.

The project has since come under fire by members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation is near part of the pipeline route, because of its anticipated harm to sources of drinking water and because the construction desecrates burial grounds and other sites.

Since April 2016, hundreds of peaceful demonstrators have gathered at the site in solidarity with the Standing Rock tribe to protest the completion of the pipeline.

On January 24, Trump signed an executive order to advance the construction of the Dakota Access, an action which was previously vetoed by former US President Barack Obama before he left office.

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