Showing their support for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s ongoing battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline, a group of 30 or so people held a protest in Memorial Park Sunday. FOX News reported that he said, “These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors”.
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On Friday, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe submitted documents in court Friday, identifying areas along the path of the pipeline that are home to Native American artifacts and sacred sites.
Preskey says there were no law enforcement personnel at the site when the incident occurred and that the crowd disbursed when officers arrived and no one was arrested.
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said in a statement that “individuals crossed onto private property and accosted private security officers with wooden posts and flag poles”. Dogs appeared to bite protesters and security guards appeared to use pepper spray.
A protest turned violent when oil pipeline company bulldozers began to dig up land that Native Americans said included sacred ancestral sites.
Three private security guards were reported injured after around 300 protesters entered the worksite Saturday afternoon. “In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground”.
The release states that the motion would put a stop to additional work on the pipeline about two miles west of Highway 1806 until the judge issues a ruling on the previous motion to stop construction.
Preskey said that there were not any law enforcement officials around when the protest broke out. The oil pipeline is being constructed by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners.
Once the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the permit to build the pipeline, several hundred protestors forced construction to halt.
“I am calling on all members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe to avoid traveling to or doing business in the Mandan-Bismarck area until this crisis is resolved”, Frazier said.
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According to the Bismarck Tribune, Governor Jack Dalrymple’s office issued a statement telling protesters to participate in activities in a peaceful and lawful manner. Concern has also been raised about the impact on local water sources, including possible contamination that could affect millions, not just tribal members. “This was more like a riot than a protest”.
