9 July 2013 Mining company Gogebic Taconite has hired paramilitary guards from Arizona firm Bulletproof Securities Force following a protest at its exploratory mine site in Wisconsin’s Penokee Hills in which some minor vandalism occurred.
From Popular Resistance:
People who live near the large taconite mine in Penokee Hills, WI are growing concerned about the presence of military-style armed guards. The mine is not active yet, but proposed with drilling and sampling taking place….
Dear Neighbors — GTAC now has men in military fatigues with automatic weapons in the Penokee Hills– lands that you have legal access to as they are in Managed Forest status. IS THIS THE KIND OF BUSINESS we want in our community?
The publication of photos of the guards, bearing automatic rifles while dressed in combat fatigues and sometimes even masked, has stirred up a firestorm in Wisconsin, and two state legislators have already asked the company to remove the armed guards, noting that the guards have no legal authority to use force.