Actress Shailene Woodley was arrested for criminal trespassing while peacefully protesting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. The protest took place in North Dakota on Monday against a huge oil pipeline project that will cross four states.
Woodley, who has been vocal about the pipeline, posted a video on Facebook Live streaming the incident, reports variety.com.
The two-hour long video takes a turn near the end, when police begin to get involved. At one point, an unidentified officer could be seen telling Woodley: “We can’t talk right here, but you’re going to be placed under arrest for criminal trespassing”.
Woodley replied: “But I have one question: Why am I being arrested and no one else is who is down there, is my question? Is it because I’m famous? Is it because people know me?” Another official can be heard telling Woodley: “It’s because you trespassed on the property”.
She said: “So did hundreds of people. We were all down there.” She added that she was being arrested “because I have 40,000 people watching”.
An official with the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said that she was one of 27 people arrested at the protest, which started at about 7 a.m., variety.com reported.
A federal judge on Sunday rejected the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for a permanent injunction to block the planned pipeline, which crosses the tribe’s land and burial grounds. The 1,170-mile, $3.7 million pipeline would be responsible for transporting 470,000 barrels of oil a day.
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