According to the Standing Rock Sioux, construction of the pipeline – which will run through North and South Dakota, Iowa, and IL when completed – has and will continue to disturb sacred burial sights. The Indian reservation in North Dakota is the site of the largest gathering of Native Americans in more than 100 years. Pipeline construction will disturb sacred ceremonial sites, and there is fear it will pollute local drinking and ground water.
Advertisement
Morton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Donnell Preskey told reporters four security guards not affiliated with law enforcement and two guard dogs were injured as several hundred protesters living in the Standing Rock Sioux reservation confronted pipeline workers at the site. There were multiple reports and social media posts that indicate the peaceful protesters were attacked by dogs and pepper spray wielding security personnel. The crowd dispersed when officers arrived and no one was arrested, she said.
Independent news channel Democracy Now was on the scene of the protest and captured images of tribespeople with arms bloodied from apparent bites from the canines. Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II said he will continue to promote peace at the worksites.
The pipeline’s United States developer Energy Transfer Partners did not return a call for comment placed during a holiday weekend.
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said it “was more like a riot than a protest”.
The protestors marched from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land to the private property on the west side of Highway 1806. “These grounds are the resting place of our ancestors”. On Fri. a federal judge will rule on whether construction should be halted. “In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground”. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there can not be replaced.
That area, according to Mentz, was sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
On Saturday demonstrators supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe faced off with the private security officers from Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners who are building the pipeline.
“Regardless of the court’s decision, the Dakota Access pipeline must be stopped”, he said.
The Dakota Access Oil Pipeline is something that has been argued over for years but just recently the clash between protestors and the builders turned violent.
Advertisement
The almost 1,200-mile pipeline would be the first to shuttle Bakken shale from North Dakota directly to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast. He urged tribal members to avoid traveling to or doing business in the area.
