‘They criminalize us’: how felony charges are weaponized against pipeline protesters

Thirty-six states have passed laws that criminalize protesting on critical infrastructure' including pipelines. In Minnesota, at least 66 felony theft charges against Line 3 protesters remain open

Last summer Sabine Von Mering, a professor of German at Brandeis University, drove more than 1,500 miles from Boston to Minneapolis to protest the replacement of the Line 3 oil pipeline that stretches from Canada's tar sands down to Minnesota.

Along with another protester, she locked herself to a semi-truck in the middle of a roadway, according to a filed court brief, as a means of peaceful resistance. But when she was arrested, she was charged with a serious crime: felony theft, which carries up to five years in prison.