Dakota pipeline protest

TRIBAL BEAT: THOUSANDS OF NATIVE AMERICANS STANDING UP TO OPPOSE PIPELINE ARE ATTACKED BY DOGS AND PEPPER SPRAY

 

By Miriam Raftery

Update Sept. 6, 2016 3 p.m.:  Federal Judge James Boasberg in Washington D.C. today issued a temporary restraining order in response to the tribe's emergency request to halt machines destroying recently identified sacred sites: "The Court ORDERS that no construction activity on the DAPL may take place between Highway 1806 and 20 miles to the east of Lake Oahe. Construction activity to the west of Highway 1806 may proceed."

September 6, 2016 (San Diego) – Thousands of Native Americans with support from hundreds of tribes have converged  in  North Dakota, seeking to protect their water,  lands and ancestors’ remains from the Dakota Access Pipeline, also known as the Bakken pipeline. (#NoDAPL) The pipeline would transport oil from fracking from North Dakota to Illinois, passing over major waterways including the Missouri and Mississippi  rivers that are the lifeblood for tribes in several states.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has filed a request for an injunction to halt construction, after discovering sacred artifacts at the site, and a court decision is expected this week. But the pipeline owner, Energy Transfer Partners, defiantly bulldozed a two-mile-long by 150-feet-wide swath over Labor Day weekend, despite having no easement approved yet by the Army Corps of Engineers.

On Saturday,  desperate to halt the devastation until a Judge could weigh in, tribal members marched at the site, with at least one chaining himself to earth-moving equipment.  A private contractor hired by the pipeline owner then attacked the Native Americans with pepper spray and with dogs including pit bulls,  leaving tribal members bloodied and outraged.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.