ND National Guardsman Says He Was Stalked, Spit on by #NoDAPL Protesters

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Members of the North Dakota National Guard assist with an information checkpoint on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, south of Mandan, N.D., on State Highway 1806 north of the Dakota Access Pipeline protest site. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

I don’t care what your stance on the pipeline is, this is indefensible:

A National Guardsman patrolling the Dakota Access Pipeline protests was spit on and called a “native killer” while walking through his apartment building hallway, according to Bismarck Police.

The 25-year-old Bismarck man reported that he was wearing his uniform and headed to work when he was approached by a group in his northwest Bismarck building hallway around 7:50 a.m. Nov. 24. Three people spat on him and called him the name, police said.

The article goes on to say that the Guardsman later had a car follow him home, apparently taking pictures of his vehicle and license plate, and that he felt the people in the car were the same people who confronted him in the hallway.

We’ve had reports of law enforcement and other officials being targeted for harassment at the #NoDAPL protests for months now, and at some point I think the protest organizers have to take some responsibility for it. They have invested a lot of rhetoric into painting law enforcement and other state officials as evil monsters.

Should we be surprised, then, when #NoDAPL activists – even if they’re operating on their own – begin to harass law enforcement, etc.?