North Dakota: Militarized Police Raid Anti-Pipeline Camp, Arrest 141

In today's headlines, in North Dakota, hundreds of heavily armed police with military hardware raided a resistance camp established by Native American water protectors in the path of the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. On Thursday afternoon, over 100 officers in riot gear with automatic rifles lined up across North Dakota’s Highway 1806, flanked by armored personnel carriers, a sound cannon, Humvees driven by National Guardsmen, an armored police truck and a bulldozer. Water protectors say police deployed tear gas, pepper spray, Tasers, concussion grenades and bean bag rounds against the Native Americans, and shot rubber bullets at their horses.

Water protectors used cars to blockade a highway, and set fire to hay bales and tires. Police arrested two people they accused of firing gunshots. Four people locked themselves to a truck parked in the middle of the highway in efforts to stop the police advance. At least 141 people were arrested. Dakota Access pipeline company cranes and bulldozers were active just behind the police line, on the site of the tribal burial ground where Dakota Access security guards unleashed dogs on Native Americans on September 3.