MINNEAPOLIS _ Two protesters dropped a banner and lowered themselves down ropes from the rafters of U.S. Bank Stadium during the second quarter of Sunday's Vikings game in a demonstration that continued into the fourth quarter.
Play was not interrupted as the two, one wearing a No. 4 Brett Favre Vikings jersey, were suspended above section 120. Six rows of fans were cleared below the protesters.
The Minneapolis Fire Department was dispatched to the scene, a spokeswoman for the city's Police Department said. Initially, a police officer climbed to the catwalk from where the two protesters are hanging. The officer has since descended and a firefighter was making the climb upward.
Yellow police tape was used to keep fans from returning to the six rows below the protesters, who began their demonstration about the time the second quarter began.
SMG, the operators of the stadium, issued a statement explaining that the protesters "climbed over a guardrail to access the ridge truss" leading to the catwalk.
"Officials are actively working to get them down safely," SMG's statement continued.
The activists dropped a banner that read "Divest #NoDAPL" with the U.S. Bank logo above, furthering activism against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota and its investors.
Last month, protesters in Minneapolis entered Wells Fargo's offices and began blocking employees on their way to work. Also last month, pipeline protesters briefly locked doors to a Wells Fargo branch in Minneapolis. Two of the three entrances at the branch were locked after the start of business. Minneapolis fire personnel arrived and cut off the locks,
During the 2014 All-Star baseball game at Target Field on the other side of downtown, a protester gained access to the large video board in right field by jumping from a parking ramp and scaling a ladder before unfurling a banner that read "Love water not oil."
As this latest demonstration went on, organizers sent a news release to various media outlets quoting a climber they identified as saying, "We are here in solidarity with water protectors from Standing Rock to urge U.S. Bank to divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline."
The organizers contend that U.S. Bank has tens of millions of dollars in credit lines active with the pipeline's parent company.
"The pipeline's route violates treaty rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and poses a significant threat drinking water and the health of the Missouri River," the protest organizers said in their release.
Construction of the pipeline has been on hold for several weeks as the yearlong battle presses on between the petroleum industry and a growing coalition of American Indian tribes and environmentalists.
The tribes and their supporters won a round on Dec. 4, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for the section plotted to go under the Missouri River in North Dakota.
However, many observers believe that the victory will be short-lived because President-elect Trump has indicated he supports the pipeline's completion.
