STANDING ROCK RESERVATION, North Dakota, Nov. 20, 2016 (Gephardt Daily & UPI) — There’s been another outbreak of violence at the site of the Standing Rock pipeline protest in southern North Dakota.
The latest confrontation started Sunday night when police began firing tear gas, water cannons and a stream of rubber bullets into a crowd of several hundred protesters who were gathered on a bridge north of the main protest on Highway 1806.
A live stream of the protest has been posted to Facebook Live by Kevin Gilbertt, who has been recording the demonstration throughout the night.
Demonstrators of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline say they are trapped and being forced to endure bitter cold temperatures as they are being soaked by water cannons. They say police have formed a line of armored vehicles, concrete barriers, and razor wire and are blasting the crowd with LRAD sound devices.
The construction of the pipeline has been met by months of demonstrations, and sometimes violent protests, in and around the construction site. The United Nations said law enforcement personnel responding to the demonstrations may have used excessive force at times. While a rights commissioner said protests have been violent, some of the response was disproportionate.
The U.S. Departments of Justice, the Army and the Interior issued an order temporarily halting pipeline construction in the Lake Oahe area, the place at the center of the tribe’s concerns, earlier this year. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe is leading the challenge against the pipeline construction and its chairman said the latest federal decision shows Washington is heeding their concern.
“We are encouraged and know that the peaceful prayer and demonstration at Standing Rock have powerfully brought to light the unjust narrative suffered by tribal nations and Native Americans across the country,” Chair Dave Archambault II said in a statement.
According to Archambault, the last few hundred feet of construction requires drilling under the Missouri River and puts an oil pipeline in the heart of a water supply for his tribe and 17 million people downstream.
“A single spill would be culturally and economically catastrophic for the tribe,” he said.
Gephardt Daily is monitoring the protest and will provide more information as it becomes available.
(DEVELOPING)
Thank you for reporting on something that’s been mostly ignored by mainstream media.