UPDATE 4:30 p.m.: Appalachians Against Pipelines has released a statement from Alice Elliot.
“By locking myself to this equipment, I’m stopping MVP from using it and costing them tons of money, but this is just one form of resistance. Being arrested while doing lockdowns is often glamorized and upheld as the ultimate way to be an activist, but all kinds of resistance are necessary, and happen every day. From long-term jail support for incarcerated people, to labor organizing at warehouses and factories, to fighting for police abolition, to babysitting and organizing childcare at actions, many different routes are being taken to revolution. Even something simple, like someone taking the leap to go to therapy and work through their [expletive] — that matters.
“Yesterday, Derek Chauvin’s case moved to the hands of a jury to decide whether kneeling on a man’s neck for nine minutes constitutes murder. Regardless of the outcome, we know that cop and the American legal system will never bring justice to his family or to any of the other Black folks who have been murdered by police. We know that cops and prisons uphold white supremacy, that there is no hope of reforming them. We need to transform our systems, move beyond our existing carceral state, and to do that we need everyone.
I challenge all of us to look at the ways we think and talk about resistance as we continue to fight against oppression in all its forms. You’ll find that everyone has something to bring in our fight for freedom, and every contribution will be valuable.”
Alice Elliot, issued via Appalachians Against Pipelines
UPDATE 2:20 p.m.: Appalachians Against Pipelines has told WFXR News that Alice Elliot’s bail has been set at $1,000.
UPDATE 12:37 p.m.: A spokesperson for Appalachians Against Pipelines told WFXR News the protester who locked herself to the construction equipment for the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Giles County Tuesday morning has been arrested.
WFXR News is working to confirm this information at this time.
The group identified the protester on their Facebook page as Alice Elliot.
NEWPORT, Va. (WFXR) — According to “Appalachians Against Pipelines,” a protester has locked herself to equipment suspended 20 feet in the air at a Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in Giles County Tuesday morning.
The group says there are banners at this Newport site that read “THE FIGHT CONTINUES” and “WHERE WILL YOU GO WHEN THE WATERS RISE?”
While the site is not visible from the road, Appalachians Against Pipelines says there is a rally of supporters at the Newport Recreation Area nearby.
This latest demonstration comes after the recent removal of the final two Yellow Finch Tree Sitters in Montgomery County who were blocking pipeline construction there.
