Standing Rock activists asking white people to stop treating pipeline protest like Burning Man
A reported influx of white protestors at Standing Rock has led to an unusual request from activists at the North Dakota Access Pipeline protest.
According to the Independent, fellow protestors are asking white demonstrators to please stop treating the area like a free-for-all festival, complete with drugs, unsolicited music and photo ops.
"No drugs or alcohol... This is not burning man or a festival," one statement posted on Facebook reads. "... YOU ARE NOT ON VACATION. This is not a camping trip."
"White people are colonizing the camps..." protestor Alicia Smith added on Facebook. "They are coming in, taking food, clothing and occupying space without any desire to participate in camp maintenance and without respect of tribal protocols.
"These people are treating it like it is Burning Man or The Rainbow Gathering and I even witnessed several wandering in and out of camps comparing it to those festivals."

Several of the requests, which are going viral on social media, ask that people stop breaking into song.
"Nobody wants to hear your songs with your guitar or drum around the fire," one tweet reads.
According to other protestors, some of the new additions have also asked to use donation money to buy "fluoride-free" water instead of drinking from taps. Another protestor witnessed "a dozen or so white people" encouraging other demonstrators to block police from crossing a bridge.
"These agitators unnecessarily wanted to put people in danger of being arrested just so their picture might go viral," she wrote on Twitter.
Posted by: Thumper Dribble5791 2016-11-30 |