Protests Underway as Trump Revives Dakota, Keystone Pipelines

Big crowds gathered Tuesday in front of the White House in Washington to protest President Donald Trump’s executive orders to move ahead with the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipeline earlier in the day.

RELATED:
Standing Rock Sioux: Trump's Order Is Reward to DAPL Friends

People gathered after calls from several environmentalists and Indigenous groups such as Indigenous Environmental Network, 350.org and Sierra Club through social media immediately after Trump’s orders were signed. "We are here to stay! Welcome to your fourth day!" crowds chanted referring to Trump according to tweets from people at the protest in Washington.

Former presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders was one of the first U.S. officials to react to the presidential orders. “We can't afford to build new pipelines that lock us into burning more fossil fuels. I will do everything I can to stop Keystone XL and DAPL,” he said in a tweet.

Other protests were also underway in other major cities in the country such as Chicago and New York City.

U.S. actress Shailene Woodley, who made headlines in 2016 for being arrested during a protest in North Dakota against the pipeline, vowed to “mobilize” when asked about Trump’s revival of the oil project.

“ We saw people being shot with rubber bullets. I was arrested, hundreds were arrested. People being sprayed with water cannons in sub-zero degree temperatures trying to protect not only the earth but Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous rights,” she told MSNBC Tuesday.