Approximately 150 people rallied outside the William S. Moorhead Federal Building in Downtown Thursdaty afternoon to support the efforts of the Standing Rock Sioux and anti-drilling activists to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline project in North Dakota.
Eva Westheimer, with Three Rivers Rising Tide, which helped organize the demonstration, said the federal building housed the Pittsburgh District office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has the power to deny permits for the 1,172-mile pipeline project which wants to lay the line under the Missouri River and a lake used by the tribe.
Thousands of Native Americans have camped out at the pipeline site, where construction has been temporarily stopped.
“Today was an act of solidarity with Standing Rock,” Ms. Westheimer said. “But we’re here for the long haul, not just for North Dakota, but for Pennsylvania as well. No one deserves to live in a sacrifice zone.”
The demonstrators blocked Liberty Avenue between 10th Street and Grant Street from 4:10 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh city police and federal officers monitored the peaceful protest.
First Published: September 15, 2016, 10:26 p.m.
Updated: September 15, 2016, 11:03 p.m.