Law enforcement officers have evicted about 200 Dakota Access Pipeline protestors from an encampment on land owned by the company, about a mile north of the main protest camp.
The officers made 141 arrests. Some protestors threw “Molotov cocktails” and other debris at the officers, but most walked back to the main camp. The officers also removed roadblocks set up by protestors. There were reports officers used rubber bullets and b-bs. Officers say one woman fired three rounds at officers, but no one was hurt. A helicopter hovered overhead.
"If we could have come out here today, and not made any arrests, that would have been great," said North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson. "They forced us into arresting them."
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said officers made a number of attempts to persuade the protestors to leave that property.
"With the leader that was out there, telling us the protestors were not going to move from that location, it forced our hand," Kirchmeier said.
"Hopefully, we have persuaded these protestors that our state highways and private property is not the place to carry out a peaceful protest," Gov. Jack Dalrymple said at a briefing held in Mandan. "We will stand by that as long as we have to."
In a statement, Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault said the federal Department of Justice needs to step in and hold the state of North Dakota and Morton County accountable for what he called “their acts of violence against prayerful people.”
Here is his statement in its entirety.
Militarized law enforcement agencies moved in on water protectors with tanks and riot gear today. We continue to pray for peace. We call on the state of North Dakota to oversee the actions of local law enforcement to, first and foremost, ensure everyone’s safety. The Department of Justice must send overseers immediately to ensure the protection of First Amendment rights and the safety of thousands here at Standing Rock. DOJ can no longer ignore our requests. If harm comes to any who come here to stand in solidarity with us, it is on their watch. They must step in and hold the state of North Dakota and Morton County accountable for their acts of violence against innocent, prayerful people.
The Obama administration has asked DAPL to voluntarily halt construction until the review process has been completed, but DAPL has ignored these repeated requests. By deploying law enforcement to support DAPL construction, the State of North Dakota is collaborating with Energy Transfer Partners and escalating tensions.
We need our state and federal governments to bring justice and peace to our lands, not the force of armored vehicles.
We have repeatedly seen a disproportionate response from law enforcement to water protectors’ nonviolent exercise of their constitutional rights. Today we have witnessed people praying in peace, yet attacked with pepper spray, rubber bullets, sound and concussion cannons. We urge state and federal government agencies to give this tense situation their immediate and close attention.
We also call on the thousands of water protectors who stand in solidarity with us against DAPL to remain in peace and prayer. 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. We won't step down from this fight. As peoples of this earth, we all need water. This is about our water, our rights, and our dignity as human beings.
