Protesters hold banners reading ''Silence=Violence'', left, and ''Who knew?'', during a protest outside the Vannes courthouse, western France, on the opening day of the trial of French surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec accused of raping or abusing 299 people, mostly child patients, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
A Texas pipeline company has sued Greenpeace accusing the organization of defamation, disruptions and attacks during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The environmental advocacy group says the lawsuit, which goes to trial in North Dakota on Monday, threatens free speech rights and its very future. Dallas-based Energy Transfer filed the lawsuit in 2019 over the protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017 near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota. Energy Transfer alleges trespass, nuisance, defamation and other offenses by Netherlands-based Greenpeace International and the organization's U.S.-based entity, Greenpeace USA, as well as funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc.
FILE - Protesters against the Dakota Access oil pipeline congregate, Nov. 21, 2016, on a long-closed bridge on a state highway near Cannon Ball., N.D. near their camp in southern North Dakota. (AP Photo/James MacPherson, File)
FILE - Dakota Access pipeline protesters defy law enforcement officers who are trying to force them from a camp on private land in the path of pipeline construction, Oct. 27, 2016, near Cannon Ball, N.D. (AP Photo/James MacPherson, File)
Demonstrators light a flare during a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Demonstrators light a flare during a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Police in Bulgaria’s capital have clashed with nationalist protesters who demanded that the government scrap plans to bring the country into the eurozone. About 1,000 protesters gathered in front of the Sofia office of the European Commission and began throwing red paint and firecrackers at the building. A door was eventually set ablaze. Firefighters were dispatched to the scene as well as police reinforcements who pushed back the protesters. Police said that several protesters had been arrested while some officers were injured during the clashes.
Policemen seen during clashes with nationalist protesters who demanded the government to scrap plans to take the country into the eurozone, in front of the Sofia office of the European Commission, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Policemen arrest a protester during clashes with nationalist protesters who demanded the government to scrap plans to take the country into the eurozone, in Sofia, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Policeman extinguish a fire set by nationalist protesters at EU commission office door, in Sofia, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
