#NoDAPL Protesters Nearing Peak Absurdity as They Rally for Woman Detained Over Felony Arrest Warrant

A hundred or so of the protesters fighting to obstruct the Dakota Access Pipeline rallied in Mandan today in support of one of the dozens pipeline opponents arrested.

Apparently the protesters were upset over Olowan Martinez (42 of South Dakota) remaining in prison.

Only, it sure seems like Morton County has a good reason to keep the woman in custody.

“Olowan Martinez has been charged with criminal trespass for being on private property of a Dakota Access Pipeline worksite,” county spokeswoman Donnell Huska sent out in press release this afternoon. “There is an outstanding warrant for Martinez in Nebraska where she is charged with Terroristic Threats, a class 4 felony; theft, a class 1 misdemeanor; criminal mischief, a class 2 misdemeanor; and criminal mischief, a class 1 misdemeanor. According to the warrant, the charges stem from a May 2013 incident in Sheridan County, Nebraska.”

Martinez is the only one of the 69 protesters arrested so far to still be in custody.

According to the Forum News Service, Martinez has even waived her right to an extradition hearing. Yet still the protesters packed into Mandan and “forced officials to close a nearby street before marching to Mandan City Hall.”

This seems to be a pattern for the protesters. They claimed they were victims when they broke down a fence and charged at private security personnel protecting pipeline workers earlier this month while swinging fence posts and throwing rocks.

Now, I guess, they’re also victims when they get arrested for unlawful protest activities and it turns out they have warrants?

If they think the detention of Martinez on apparently valid warrants is unjust, what are we to make of their case against the pipeline?

That perhaps they’re being unreasonable? And absurd?

That they think the pipeline company and the cops and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should follow the law, but that they should get special treatment?

It’s getting harder and harder to take the complaints of the protesters seriously.

Here’s the press release:

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