Troublemakers, most likely.
Demonstrators supporting the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's months-long protest against a planned oil pipeline in North Dakota were attacked with pepper spray and dogs Saturday by security guards after the protesters crossed a fence onto the pipeline construction site. Or if you're writing the headline for National Public Radio, maybe the protests "turned violent." The construction site has become the focus of protests by Native American groups and supporters from across the nation:
[H]undreds of Native Americans from tribes across the country have set up a camp near the construction site in North Dakota. The Army Corps of Engineer approved the oil pipeline in July allowing it to run under the Missouri river close to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation.Protesters worry that the $3.8 billion pipeline, which is slated to run through four states, could disturb sacred sites and affect the reservation's drinking water.
Unlike the Keystone XL pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline, which if constructed would carry oil from the Bakken formation oil fields of North Dakota to refineries in Illinois, does not require Congressional approval. A crew from Democracy Now! recorded the confrontation between protesters and security guards Saturday:
Eventually, the bulldozers stopped bulldozing and the security guards hired by the pipeline company, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, were driven off. But not before some protesters were bitten by dogs; one photo posted to Facebook shows a dog with blood on its nose and muzzle:
Those protests sure turned violent, huh? Definitely all the protesters' fault for provoking things, according to a statement from the Morton County Sheriff's Department:
"Once protestors arrived at the construction area, they broke down a wire fence by stepping and jumping on it," the sheriff's office said. "According to numerous witnesses within five minutes the crowd of protestors, estimated to be a few hundred people became violent. They stampeded into the construction area with horses, dogs and vehicles."Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said it "was more like a riot than a protest." Videos show some protesters were bloodied and the sheriff says three private security officers were hurt.
The Associated Press reports that four security guards and two of the guard dogs were injured; one guard was reportedly hospitalized with undisclosed injuries. In addition,
Tribe spokesman Steve Sitting Bear said protesters reported that six people had been bitten by security dogs, including a young child. At least 30 people were pepper-sprayed, he said. [Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Donnell] Preskey said law enforcement authorities had no reports of protesters being injured.
Must not have happened, then. Please ignore the video of the guy with the bitten arm.
The tribe is attempting to block construction of the pipeline while it fights the project in federal court; a ruling by a federal judge is expected by September 9.
The protest Saturday came one day after the tribe filed court papers saying it found several sites of "significant cultural and historic value" along the path of the proposed pipeline.Video of the protest on YouTube was met with astute commentary by those skeptical of the tribe's claims; one Indigenous Rights expert estimated that "half of those people are there just because they want to cause shit." As of yet, neither presidential candidate has taken a position on the pipeline or the protests, although, in August, Simon Moya-Smith of Indian Country Today published a CNN op-ed calling on Hillary Clinton to condemn the pipeline. The Trump campaign has issued no comment either, although we can only assume the ferret-headed waste of carbon atoms would likely approve of protesters being carried out on stretchers, as is only right and proper.Tribal preservation officer Tim Mentz said in court documents that the tribe was only recently allowed to survey private land north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Mentz said researchers found burials rock piles called cairns and other sites of historic significance to Native Americans.
Standing Rock Sioux chairman David Archambault II said in a statement that construction crews removed topsoil across an area about 150 feet wide stretching for 2 miles.
"This demolition is devastating," Archambault said. "These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground."
Curiously, not a single member of the patriot militia freedom fighter groups has yet shown up in North Dakota to protest the destruction of The People's land. Probably just as well.
[Democracy Now! / NPR / Associated Press / CNN / Camp of the Sacred Stone on Facebook]
