CLAIM: Media reports out of Virginia claim that extremists protesting the Mountain Valley Pipeline “are peacefully protesting the pipeline,” with one activist saying they are non-violent and respect state police.
RATING
False
FACT CHECK
Developments quickly overtook the narrative, and that story needed to be updated:
A Giles County man was charged with assaulting a Mountain Valley Pipeline worker during a protest at a construction site Monday. … Jammie Hale, 46, was charged with assaulting a Mountain Valley employee, a misdemeanor. He was later released on a $2,500 bond.
Another was arrested for locking himself to concrete in the pipeline’s path, preventing work for about seven hours.
These latest arrests come after a series of protester antics that seemingly waste the time and resources of local law enforcement, like tree sitting, chaining people to excavators, starting fires, and crawling into parts of the pipeline.