Pipeline Protesters Arrested After Spectacular NFL Stunt

They unfurled banner from roof truss
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 2, 2017 12:53 AM CST
Pipeline Protesters Hang Banner Over NFL Game
Protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline rappel from the catwalk in US Bank Stadium.   (AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King)

Two Dakota Access Pipeline protesters were arrested after a stunt that left them dangling from a roof truss at US Bank Stadium Sunday afternoon during the Minnesota Vikings' season finale against the Chicago Bears. The pair sneaked up the truss and rappelled down at the start of the second quarter to unfurl a huge banner with a US Bank logo and the words "Divest #NoDAPL," the AP reports. The bank has extended $175 million in credit to the company behind the controversial pipeline project. The protesters remained in place for the rest of the game, though eight rows of seats 100 feet below them were cleared by police, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The Star Tribune describes the protesters as two men, while other sources report that they were a man and a woman.

The protest did not interrupt the game in Minneapolis, which the Vikings won 38-10, and CBS reports that players and coaches seemed unaware of the drama above. At the end of the game, the protesters climbed back onto the roof truss, leaving the banner in place, as the stadium's sound system played the Counting Crows song "Hanging Around." Police and firefighters were waiting for them. Fans still in the stadium cheered as they climbed up the rope but booed after they made it to safety. The Star Tribune reports that Karl Mayo, 32, and Sen Holiday, 26, were arrested on trespassing and burglary charges. A third person, 27-year-old Carolyn Feldman, was booked on a related charge of obstructing the legal process. (More Dakota Access Pipeline stories.)

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