“It is the absolute, all-time story of small versus big, of ancient oppression and modern possibility, of the people who have been the most oppressed on this continent,” climate activist Bill McKibben said on the radio program Democracy Now! earlier this month.

For the past weeks, protesters have vigorously and bravely protested against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Standing Rock Sioux Indian reservation. The plans to construct the pipeline through the tribe Standing Rock Sioux’s reservations, threatening to bulldoze through sacred sites and contaminate their water source. More than 200 Native Americans and supporters from around the world, including the likes of Jill Stein, Shailene Woodley, and Mark Ruffalo, have protested to stop the construction. Natives who lived on the reservation and their allies stayed even after orders to evacuate the site, and consequently, were pelleted with rubber bullets and water cannons. They endured the freezing cold weather and the threat of officials stopping any aid and supplies from getting to them.

December 3rd, more than 20,000 U.S. veterans known as Veterans Stand for Standing Rock arrived at the campsite to carry on and relieve the protesters. On December 4th, the U.S Army Corps of Engineering denied the pipeline from crossing Lake Oahe, and halted any more construction of the pipeline.

Picture credit to@joshfoxfilm on Twitter.