DAPL Protests

Demonstrators protesting against Dakota Access Pipeline say they are trapped on a bridge as North Dakota police fire tear gas, water cannon and concussion grenades at them, according to live reports on social media.

Officers have deployed water cannon on the protesters in below-freezing temperatures, and are using LRAD sound devices. Earlier, there were reports of rubber bullets fired. Vehicles which appear to be armored humvees have arrived at the scene.

[...]

A livestream of the incident has been posted to Facebook Live by Kevin Gilbertt, who claims protesters are trapped on a bridge and being forced to endure tear gas.

“The options are endure the tear gas or trample each other,” Gilbertt says, adding that other protesters are bringing blankets to those trapped on the bridge.

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Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has shared Gilbertt’s feed, adding a message in support of protesters: “President Obama must take all appropriate measures to protect the safety of the Native American protesters and their supporters who have gathered peacefully to oppose construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

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A statement from Morton County, where the protest is taking place, has put the estimated number of demonstrators at around 400 people, noting that one person has been arrested.

It went on to state that protesters have attempted to start multiple fires at the scene.

"Officers on the scene are describing protester's [sic] actions as very aggressive. Protesters have also engaged in organized tactical movement and attempted to flank and attack the law enforcement line from the west," the statement claims.

"In order to keep protesters from crossing the bridge, law enforcement have utilized less-than-lethal means, including launching CS gas," it says.

An eyewitness interviewed by Gilbertt said the fires at the scene were started by police projectiles, not protesters – contrary to the statement by Morton County.

  RT

Sheriff's spokesman Rob Keller told NBC that no water cannons were used and water was only deployed to put out fires set by #NoDAPL crowd. pic.twitter.com/9qc2l10rOX

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) November 21, 2016

Indian Country Today Media Network reports that Robert Kennedy Jr. visited Standing Rock on Tuesday for the #NoDAPL day of action to extend his support in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“What Energy Transfer Partners is doing is a real environmental crime,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy is senior attorney and president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on the right to clean water.

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On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior canceled 15 oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area of northwest Montana, on land that the Blackfeet Nation considers sacred.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said that she was righting a historic wrong in retiring the leases that were granted in the 1980s under the Reagan Administration.

  The Root

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