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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Stutsman County Sheriff’s Department has been providing assistance to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department with the ongoing Dakota Access Pipeline protests south of Mandan.

Sheriff Chad Kaiser says around August 10th that he and some of his deputies have been traveling back and forth between the protests and Jamestown.

Sheriff Kaiser reports that the number of protesters were up around 4,000 to 6,000 people when they first began assisting the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

Conflicting reports of the protests being peaceful have been reported, but Kaiser says many of them are breaking the law, resulting in arrests.

Kaiser stated that the protesters are exercising the 1st amendment rights by protesting, as long as they do so peacefully.

Sheriff Kaiser believes that officials at the protest are doing a fine job of remaining passive with protesters. Currently, several out of state agencies have been assisting with the protests along with other in state organizations.