Pipeline Protesters at Vikings Stadium Charged with Misdemeanors

Karl Zimmermann Mayo and Sen Holiday were charged with misdemeanors Tuesday after they unfurled a banner from the rafters of U.S. Bank Stadium in protest of the Dakota Access oil pipeline during the Minnesota Vikings' Week 17 game against the Chicago Bears. 

According to the Associated Press, Zimmermann Mayo and Holiday were charged with burglary, disorderly conduct and trespass. 

WCCO-TV's David McCoy snapped a photo of the banner in the midst of the protest on Jan. 1: 

According to the Pioneer Press' Brian Murphy, Holiday and Zimmermann Mayo could serve up to 90 days in jail and be ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 if they are convicted on all three counts. 

The protest lasted from the second quarter until the end of regulation, and it was facilitated as a way to urge "Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank to divest from the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline," per the AP. Both Zimmermann Mayo and Holiday were arrested.

Carolyn Feldman was also arrested, but she was not charged on Tuesday. 

"Not charging Ms. Feldman was [the] right decision by the city attorney," defense attorney Tim Phillips said Tuesday, per Murphy. "With regard to [the] other two, it has always been my clients' position that the pipeline they are protesting is far more dangerous [than the] conduct they engaged in."

News of charges being levied against Zimmermann Mayo and Holiday comes on the same day President Donald Trump "signed an executive memorandum directing the Army 'to review and approve in an expedited manner'" the Dakota Access pipeline, according the New York Times' Peter Baker and Coral Davenport. 

The Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota—which was the site of previous protests —responded by filing an "immediate challenge" to Trump's executive order in court, according to MSNBC's Cal Perry.