Keystone XL protesters' glittered banner leads to 'terrorism hoax' arrest

Two protesters involved in a demonstration at Devon Energy headquarters in Oklahoma City were arrested last week for allegedly staging a "terrorism hoax," marking the first time anti-terrorism laws have been applied to anti-fracking protests. A group of about a dozen were protesting Devon Energy’s involvement in hydraulic fracking and its ties to TransCanada, the company building the Keystone XL pipeline.

Stefan Warner and Moriah Stephenson were part of a protest at Devon Tower organized by Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance (GPTSR) and Cross Timbers Earth First, in which several activists staged a mock oil spill outside the company's headquarters and others locked themselves in the building's revolving door entrance.

Warner and Stephenson hung a large Hunger Games-themed banner, pictured below, in the tower's lobby. Some glitter from the banner fell onto the ground, which police on the scene referred to as a "black substance." After a janitor had already swept up most of the glitter, an FBI hazmat team arrived to investigate the "black substance." The protesters, who were already in custody before the hazmat team arrived, reported hearing police on the scene "communicating with someone off site attempting to find some statute in the Oklahoma anti-terrorism statutes” that could be applied to them.