A group of veterans staged a peaceful protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline

On a cold Thursday night near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, close to 20 veterans gathered in protest of a pipeline that many worry will contaminate water and disturb sacred ground.

For months, thousands of people have camped out to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would bring oil from western North Dakota to Illinois. To show solidarity with the demonstrators, a group of veterans who arrived at the encampment on Thursday made their way across the snow to an area that had been blocked by police, KARE 11 reports.

The veterans asked the police officers to lay down their arms, KARE says, and in response the officers told the veterans they were trespassing and needed to leave. After telling the officers they served their country and had every right to be there, the veterans stayed for a peaceful protest that lasted 40 minutes.

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