Fight for the Dakota pipeline: court ruling ensures turmoil!

Fight for the Dakota pipeline: court ruling ensures turmoil!

Mandan, North Dakota, USA - Greenpeace sees itself in a massive legal exchange of blows with the pipeline operator Energy Transfer. The group has sued the environmental protection organization in North Dakota and demands a proud $ 300 million compensation. The accusation? Defamation and the support of protests that have led to property damage. The company was now right in a judgment that Greenpeace found for trespassing and conspiracy. Energy Transfer welcomed the judgment and spoke of a victory for the people in North Dakota who had suffered from the protests. The company not only smells the chance of financial compensation, but also sees the opportunity to send a strong signal against such protest movements, such as "https://www.vienna.at/greenpeace-muss-hundert-wegen-us-pipeline-fahchen/reports.

The courts in North Dakota are considered to be particularly dangerous for activist organizations, since they have no special regulations against strategic lawsuits against public participation (slapping lawsuits), which brings enormous risks to the environmental protection organization. Legal experts compare the process with a classic case that aims to fund Greenpeace financially and to prevent his activities, as is also Infosperber emphasized. These lawsuits could massively endanger the right to freedom of expression and protest rights and possibly exert an exemplary effect on similar protest movements.

Greenpeace has already announced that it is judging. "We won't be soaked up and will not be silent," said Kristin Casper from Greenpeace International. The allegations that are raised against the organization are an attempt to silence civil society. They see their activities as inseparable from the rights of the indigenous population that lives along the Dakota Access Pipeline and sees these sacred sites and their water supply at risk. These legal arguments could therefore have a significant impact on the future of Greenpeace, but also that of protest movements worldwide.