North Dakota’s bill for policing protests of the Dakota Access pipeline continues to rise.
The North Dakota Emergency Commission is set to borrow an additional $5 million Monday to cover law enforcement costs. That will bring the total line of credit from the state-owned bank of North Dakota to $39 million.
State Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong says 11 states provided law enforcement help to North Dakota, and some bills are only now arriving.
The $3.8 billion pipeline built by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners began moving oil from North Dakota to a distribution point in Illinois in June, after months of protests.
The Emergency Commission also is set to approve a $10 million federal grant to help pay state law enforcement bills related to the protests.
A small group of people from Kahnawake set up a camp near the base of the Mercier Bridge to Montreal to protest the Dakota Access pipeline. (Charles Contant/CBC)
‘We’re here to protect the planet and raise awareness of what’s going on,’ supporter says
CBC News Posted: Oct 31, 2016
A small group of Kahnawake Mohawks has set up a camp at the base of the Mercier Bridge in support of pipeline protesters in Standing Rock, N.D.
After briefly blocking the bridge over the weekend, a few people sat around a bonfire by the road this morning, with a promise of further action to come.
South Shore access to Mercier Bridge reopens after Kahnawake community members protest on Friday. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)
Blair Dearhouse, who has been at the location for the past three days, said the goal is to bring attention to the pipeline protest in North Dakota in a peaceful way.
“We’re here to protect the planet and raise awareness of what’s going on,” he said.
A teepee has been put up at the site alongside a sign that reads “water is our first medicine.”
Protesters against the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline block a highway in near Cannon Ball, N.D., earlier this month. (James MacPherson/The Associated Press)
For months, Indigenous groups have been protesting the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota.
Thousands of people have come to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation since a group of young people from the community first stood up against the pipeline this past summer.
There have been over 200 arrests in confrontations with police, which have escalated in recent weeks.
On Sunday, Grand Chief Joseph Tokwiro Norton said the band council fully supports the demonstrations near the Mercier Bridge.
A person with a hand drum paces between law enforcement officers and a line of protesters along a highway in North Dakota. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune)
He said two chiefs from Kahnawake were part of a delegation that took supplies to Standing Rock this fall.
“I always look back to 1990, the so-called Oka Crisis, when people from all over North America came here and did what they could to help support us,” Norton said.
“So it’s our turn now to show our reciprocation for things like that.”
Kahnawake Peacekeepers have been instructed to support the protesters, Norton said.
Update: Day after police sweep the camp, tribal elders negotiate peaceful end to Backwater Bridge standoff
By Red Power Media, Staff | Oct 28, 2016
In the aftermath of Thursday’s confrontation near Cannon Ball N.D., where 142 people were arrested and three shots were fired at law enforcement officers, water protectors again occupied the Backwater Bridge and roadway throughout Friday, where the controversial Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) is being built.
A couple of hundred protesters again faced off with law enforcement officers, on Friday. But this time, the use of pepper spray and military-style Humvees was averted when elders of the Standing Rock Tribe brokered a truce on the bridge littered with burnt-out vehicles and police barricades. Protesters were persuaded to clear the bridge following negotiations between officers and tribal elders.
Negotiations made between officers and tribal elders at police barricade on edge of Backwater bridge.
Omaha World-Herald reported, Miles Allard, who has allowed protesters since April to camp on land that he owns with his wife, said he intervened because of concerns that people were going to get hurt.
“I told them to back off and we’d back off,” Allard said. “Their main concern was to get people off the highway. … My main concern was prayer and nonviolence.”
Miles Allard, tribal elder who negotiated a peaceful stand-down between pipeline protesters and authorities on Friday. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
“We are not going away,” says Miles Allard, a tribal elder who negotiated the peaceful stand-down between pipeline protesters and authorities on Friday.
Allard, 68, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa elder and a lifelong resident of the Standing Rock reservation, said protesters aren’t backing down but that the only way they will win is through prayer and nonviolence.
The highway bridge, which has been closed in conjunction with Highway 1806, crosses over Cantapeta Creek north of Cannonball. The bridge, on which debris burned throughout the night and into Friday morning, has been declared unsafe for anyone to cross and will remain closed until any damage to the structure is evaluated by bridge engineers. During the closure, motorists need to use alternate routes.
Meanwhile, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations investigators were combing through the remnants of a north camp that was cleared of protesters on Thursday — treating it as a crime scene. In addition, 70 vehicles were towed from the scene.
Tires burn as law enforcement officers stand in formation on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016.
Thursday, about 200 heavily armed police in riot gear, with military equipment, launched a midday operation to remove demonstrators from their encampment on private land.
According to press reports and social media posts, police ordered Native American water protectors and Environmental activists occupying a camp in the path of the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline to leave — or be arrested. The sheriff’s department announced it was also dismantling a roadblock set up on highway 1806.
Law enforcement demanded that the protesters leave on Wednesday but they had refused.
“Move to the south,” police said over the loudspeaker.
The protesters who prefer to be called water protectors, refused to leave the land in the pipeline’s path ― owned by the pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners. Members of the tribe say the land they were occupying isrightfully theirs and authorities were failing to respect two treaties ratified by the federal government.
A stand-off with police lasted for several hours before authorities moved closer to the camp and started to forcibly remove the water protectors.
Law enforcement used a long range acoustic device (LRAD) sonic weapon that could be heard on live streams. Riot police used batons, pepper spray, tasers and non-lethal ammo (rubber/bean bags) on the protesters who were defending the new Oceti Sakowin camp, according to Facebook videos and live streams from the site. Some campers ran from the violent response as police pursued.
One water protector was shot in the face, two teen horse riders were shot at and one horse was injured by a police projectile another horse died from police gunfire.
The protest has lingered for months, which began when Native Americans of the Standing Rock reservation claimed the pipeline threatens sacred land and local water reserves.
Determined to be the last line of defense between the pipeline and Missouri River, the water protectors stood their ground.
Protesters are burning tires, logs and other objects, sending smoke onto the roadway. A car has also been torched, journalist Jason Patinkin tweeted.
In retaliation of the police repression, they also reportedly threw rocks, logs, bottles and other debris at riot police as the tensions reached new heights.
Morton County Sheriff deputies were assisted in the sweep of the camp and roadblocks, by the N. Dakota State Patrol, National Guard and law enforcement officers from seven States.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to the Associated Press that it had cleared the private land of protesters around 6:30pm EST Thursday.
BREAKING: Sheriff: Dakota Access pipeline protesters cleared from private property.
Of the 141 arrests on Thursday, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said most of the protesters faced charges for conspiracy to endanger by fire or explosion, engaging in a riot and maintaining a public nuisance. Seven people were arrested for reckless endangerment after using “sleeping dragon devices” to attach themselves to items. — Forum News Service
Incidents of shots fired
The Bismarck Tribune reported,shots were fired Thursday on multiple occasions. One instance came at Backwater Bridge in Morton County, where one person was injured after being shot in the hand, according to the sheriff’s department. Cecily Fong of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said the shooting involved a person who had been run off the road by protesters north of the main protest camp south of County Road 134 on N.D. Highway 1806.
Dallas Goldtooth with the Indigenous environmental network, said the man climbed out of the vehicle and stood out in the creek with the rifle. He said several protesters attempted to de-escalate the situation.
Thompson was caught with an AR-15 at the Oceti Sakowin camp with 30 live rounds.
DAPL Security Guard Brandishing Firearm at Standing Rock Encampment — Photo: Ryan Vizziones
Social media posts reported the armed instigator wearing a mask who drove into the camp with a assault rifle, ― then run off the road by protesters ― was a hired Dakota Access pipeline security guard, named Kyle Thompson.
He then got out of the vehicle and “fired several shots from his assault rifle,” the tribe said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Documents found in the man’s Chevy Silverado pickup suggested he was a Dakota Access Pipeline security guard in a company-owned truck, the Standing Rock Sioux statement said.
A travel log also indicated that Thompson might have been accompanied by another DAPL security guard who couldn’t be located at the scene.
When he was on his way to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Police Department in Fort Yates,a person unknown to EnviroNews World News, drove the Chevy Silverado about a half mile up the road, close to where police and protectors were still colliding, after which a group of people raided the truck.
Native American ‘Protectors’ Burn DAPL Security Truck
In the raid, protectors found a photo ID badge of the man [Kyle Thompson] that said “DAPL Security.” They also found insurance cards issued to Dakota Access LLC, out of Houston, Texas. After the protectors had “rifled through” the truck and taken the documents, they set it ablaze and watched it burn.
According to a spokesman from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Police Department, Thompson was transferred to the FBI around 8 p.m.
The FBI was investigating but turned the case over to the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The point of Anonymous is that it’s anonymous and every Guy Fawkes mask looks like every other Guy Fawkes mask. That creates an uncertainty factor around a threat by Anonymous that is, in itself, a force multiplier. I report that Anonymous has come down on the side of the people standing in the way of the Black Snake, the Dakota Access Pipeline….because a person in a Guy Fawkes mask says so in a video posted to YouTube.
The person behind the mask also has released what he claims is personal information about some individuals opposing the residents of the Sacred Stones Camp. Because I do not feel comfortable publishing the information—having no way to verify it—I will not be linking to the Anonymous messages.
The latest communiqué that claims to be from Anonymous and carries the customary symbols addresses “the world” but quickly focuses on North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple.
The masked individual who calls himself Sergeant Anonymous and may or may not represent the hacktivist collective calls Gov. Dalrymple’s decision to mobilize the National Guard against peaceful protestors “a fit of cowardice,” a description hard to dispute. The next statement gets to the nitty-gritty, claiming that the governor stands to make “millions” on the pipeline project and the Indians are standing between him and this stack of money.
Anonymous warns the governor to back off or they will release documents showing the conflict of interest and then goes on to say that if one protestor on the Indian side is harmed, Anonymous will “release docs on” the individuals responsible.
While translating that threat—which extends to individual Guardsmen—is perilous, it has in the past involved monkey wrenching individual credit ratings, cancelling credit cards—electronic mischief ranging from embarrassing to harmful.
Isn’t this kind of hacking against the law? Of course it is. That’s one reason Anonymous is anonymous. But of course doing harm to peaceful protestors is also against the law.
The ultimatum to Gov. Dalrymple came a day after Anonymous posted news and documentation of attacks on protestors by private security forces with dogs and pepper spray, mostly footage from Democracy Now! For those who remember, it was like the second coming of Bull Connor, except the dog handlers were hired muscle rather than paid directly by the public.
The protestors prevailed against private security on camera and they did it without breaking the discipline of nonviolence. In addition to theDemocracy Now!footage and other news items, Anonymous published a picture of the head of the security firm on YouTube as well as his home address.
Mobilizing the National Guard was a significant escalation.
Anonymous, should they carry out their threats, will be taking defensive action beyond the abilities of the people being attacked.
Of course, if there are no documents showing a conflict of interest, then the threat is as empty as if the person behind the Guy Fawkes mask were not part of the affinity group of hackers that calls itself Anonymous.
Only Governor Jack Dalrymple knows if he is doing private business with public assets. If he is, he has to wonder how much Anonymous knows and what documents they intend to drop. If he is not, he has nothing to fear.
Whoever the person behind the Guy Fawkes mask is, his claim puts the governor in an interesting situation. The power to force that issue without producing evidence out front is another reason Anonymous is anonymous.
Steve Russell, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is a Texas trial court judge by assignment and associate professor emeritus of criminal justice at Indiana University-Bloomington. He lives in Georgetown, Texas.
The governor of North Dakota has called in the National Guard to assist law enforcement with the Dakota Access Pipeline protest.
According toForum News Service, Gov. Jack Dalrymple activated the North Dakota National Guard in a limited role Thursday to provide support for civilian authorities dealing with the protests as a key court ruling loomed Friday.
The Guard’s adjutant general stressed that soldiers will not patrol the main protest encampment north of Cannon Ball.
“The Guard is not heading south,” Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann said during a news conference. “The Guard’s role here is to promote, like everyone else, public safety and to help out with law enforcement so we can free up officers with patrols cars to go down there and have a visible presence.”
The Bismarck Tribune reports, Dalrymple said the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” in order to free up law enforcement to patrol the area.
Several armed guardsmen will be posted at a checkpoint along Highway 1806, which has been reopened. They will provide information to drivers passing through.
About 100 guardsmen from the 191st Military Police Company will also be on standby alert, said Dohrmann. This unit, which is based in Bismarck, Mayville and Fargo, has some law enforcement experience.
Meanwhile, as the yearly powwow takes place in Bismarck and a decision from a federal court judge on the tribe’s request for an injunction reverberates, additional law enforcement officers will patrol the Bismarck-Mandan area and parts of Morton County.
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said he wanted to be able to respond more quickly to situations that arise at the protest camps and for residents nearby. Deputies will not be stationed at the camps.
Kirchmeier said, with the resources he had available Saturday, when a clash between protesters and private pipeline security broke out, he did not have the manpower needed to go in and make arrests.
“We want people to have a safe weekend,” Kirchmeier said.
Dohrmann said he is in discussions with tribal leaders to find a peaceful resolution to the protests. He said he believes there is a group of “agitators” at the site, some of whom have been asked to leave.
Highway 1806 had been closed since Aug. 17 by Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation due to safety concerns. Tribal members and civil rights groups have called for its reopening, citing economic impacts on the tribe and hindrance to First Amendment rights.
Native American protestors and their supporters are confronted by security during a demonstration against work being done for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) oil pipeline, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, September 3, 2016. AFP / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has been leading a protest for weeks near a site along the route where the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline passes its reservation. The protest has included tense confrontations at times, and violence broke out Saturday between private security guards and protesters at a construction site being bulldozed for the pipeline, which—according tribal officials—was damaging burial and cultural sites.
During the Saturday protest, at least six people, including a child, are said to have received bites from guard dogs belonging to a private security company at the site, according to tribe spokesperson Steve Sitting Bear. He said at least 30 demonstrators were hit with pepper-spray.
Builders of Dakota Access Pipeline brought in private security + rabid dogs. 6 were attacked. Horrifying. #NoDAPLpic.twitter.com/pTl60gsBLO
Lawyers for Energy Transfer Partners filed court documents Tuesday morning denying that workers have destroyed any cultural sites and asking the judge to reject the tribes’ request for a temporary work stoppage.
The Associated Press reports, North Dakota’s chief archaeologist plans to inspect an area where Standing Rock Sioux officials say they’ve identified cultural artifacts.
Paul Picha (PEE’-kuh) told The Associated Press that the trip likely won’t happen until next week. If any artifacts are found, pipeline work would cease.
Picha says state officials earlier surveyed the route, but not the disputed site, which is on private land west of State Highway 1806.
Standing Rock Chairman David Archambault II also released the following statement Thursday calling for peace in anticipation of the Sept. 9 court ruling:
Thousands of people, from members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, tribes across the nation and First Nations in Canada, to non-Native supporters in the United States and around the world, have stood in solidarity against the harm and destruction caused by the Dakota Access Pipeline.
We have stood side by side in peaceful prayer.
The pipeline threatens our sacred lands and the health of 17 million people who rely upon the Missouri River for water. There is a lot at stake with the court decision tomorrow. We call upon all water protectors to greet any decision with peace and order. Even if the outcome of the court’s ruling is not in our favor, we will continue to explore every lawful option and fight against the construction of the pipeline.
Any act of violence hurts our cause and is not welcome here. We invite all supporters to join us in prayer that, ultimately, the right decision—the moral decision—is made to protect our people, our sacred places, our land and our resources.
The ruling will decide whether construction can continue on the Dakota Access Pipeline.
RED POWER MEDIA 