More than 2,000 veterans expected to form human shield at ND pipeline protest

More than 2,000 U.S. military veterans plan to form a human shield to protect protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline project near a Native American reservation in North Dakota, organizers said, just ahead of a federal deadline for activists to leave the camp they have been occupying. It comes as North Dakota law enforcement backed away from a previous plan to cut off supplies to the camp -- an idea quickly abandoned after an outcry and with law enforcement's treatment of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters increasingly under the microscope. Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, a contingent of more than 2,000 U.S. military veterans, intends to go to North Dakota by this weekend and form a human wall in front of police, protest organizers said on a Facebook page. Organizers could not immediately be reached for comment. Former U.S. Marine Michael A. Wood Jr. is leading the effort along with Wesley Clark Jr., a writer whose father is retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark. U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii and a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, has said on Twitter she will join the protesters on Sunday...more