North Dakota pipeline protest: Bismarck-Mandan divided over out-of-towners

It's a delivery Karen Van Fossan has made at least a hundred times: blankets, long johns, backpacks and rain gear, all destined to camps near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

And Van Fossan, who is a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship & Church of Bismarck-Mandan, says being part of this movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline in southern North Dakota has been nothing short of "life-changing."

"To be in a place that is so deeply rooted in faith and prayer is deeply nourishing and challenges me as a faith leader to live a more prayerful and faithful life," she said of the camps.

But in her home community of Bismarck-Mandan, a divide is becoming apparent, as others say their patience is wearing thin, especially with the large number of out-of-towners who have flocked here to oppose the multi-billion dollar pipeline.

"I believe personally that the name of Standing Rock has really been hijacked at this point of time by lots of activists, eco-terrorists, anti-fossil fuel groups."said Bismarck Police Chief Dan Donlin.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is nearly complete, except for a section that travels under a reservoir of the Missouri River. For months, thousands of people have come here in an attempt to stop the pipeline's completion.

Opponents see it as a threat to local drinking water and sacred sites. Proponents say it is a safer way to move crude oil.

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The ongoing protests have been taxing for local law enforcement agencies, which are small, rural and with limited resources,said Donlin.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in relation to the ongoing protests.

There have also been terse confrontations among local law enforcement and people camping here, particularly last month in an incident where police sprayed water on protesters in freezing weather.

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Seeing anti-pipeline protests spill into the streets of his own city, Donlin said he believes it is necessary to balance the right to free speech with other rights, such as free commerce and mobility.

There have been pro-law enforcement even pro-pipeline rallies in these neighbouring cities totalling a population of about 120,000.

"Law enforcement is caught in the middle."said Donlin. "What I'd like to see in the end is for everyone to respect everybody's rights and to abide by the law."

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Sia Ranjbar, who runs a small cafe on Bismarck's main drag, says many people in this area are on the opposite side of the issue from the campers: pro-pipeline.

"People are for it."he said.

In his cafe, he says the campers are having a very practical impact on his business: overstaying their welcome in his washroom, sometimes spending very little.

"We have some users, we have some spenders."he joked. "I'm looking at them as a guest. It's not going to be forever."

But Van Fossan suggests some of her fellow citizens may not really understand the social significance of what is happening at the camps.

"Here there's food because they're hungry and there's water because they're thirsty and medical care because we need it and that happens because we work together to do it."she said. "So for me it affirms a sense of human nature and human community that feels deeply true."

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Still,she knows there will need to be a time for healing in her home community when this story is all said and done.

"It's hard to say how deep the divide is, and in a way, I hesitate to think of it as a divide."she said.

"I think of it more as a hurt. As a broken place that can be healed."