Line 3 Protests Continue in Northern Minnesota

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. – Opponents of the Enbridge Energy Line 3 oil pipeline project in northwestern Minnesota continued their protests this week by disrupting traffic in front of an Enbridge equipment site, leading to 31 arrests.

Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes said the incident began about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday when a van pulled in front of the semitrailer and forced it to stop on a county highway. Protesters then attached themselves to the truck’s rear axle and to the top of its trailer. Several carloads of protesters soon arrived.

Aukes says deputies began arresting demonstrators after they began “yelling vulgarities, being a traffic hazard, and refusing to leave.”

At least 1,000 activists from across the country gathered at construction sites near the headwaters of the Mississippi River last week. Nearly 250 people were arrested.