Protesters supporting the Standing Rock Sioux effort to halt Dakota Access Pipeline construction on Tuesday circle the Wells Fargo Bank on College Avenue in protest of the banks’ funding of the controversial project. More than 45 local people will caravan next week to North Dakota to support protests there.
Protesters supporting the Standing Rock Sioux effort to halt Dakota Access Pipeline construction on Tuesday circle the Wells Fargo Bank on College Avenue in protest of the banks’ funding of the controversial project. More than 45 local people will caravan next week to North Dakota to support protests there.Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald file

More than 45 people are expected to gather at 6:30 a.m. near the FLC campus post office and organizers expect them to leave at 7 a.m.

The group will emphasize “prayer and bearing witness” at the demonstrations, according to a news release. It will take donated foods (grains, flour, seeds, spices and beans), clothing, winter camping gear, tarps and batteries. Those who wish to contribute can drop donations in a box outside Room 73 in Reed Library.

The Standing Rock Sioux are protesting the construction of a 1,172-mile pipeline that would carry crude oil from North Dakota to refineries in Illinois. The tribe fears that planned construction under a Missouri River reservoir could harm cultural resources and drinking water.

The drug-free, alcohol-free and nonviolent caravan will return Nov. 26.

For more information, call Anthony J. Nocella II at (315) 657-2911 or email [email protected].