A peaceful #NoDAPL sit-in at the North Dakota governor's mansion in Bismarck brought out the riot police on November 4, 2016. Photo by Rob Wilson [GoFundMe]
Kirchmeier blames out-of-state agitators for discourse
Prayer vigils continue at DAPL
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News Today
Health & Environment Editor
nativesunnews.today MANDAN, N.D. –– Standing Rock Sioux Tribe supporters, who literally put their bodies on the line for the cause of the tribe’s federal lawsuit to prevent Dakota Access Pipeline construction across 1851 Ft. Laramie Treaty territory and the Missouri River, organized a Water Protection Forgiveness Walk to police headquarters here on Nov. 6. The activity was one of several recent prayer vigils that address a siege mentality on the different sides of a 3-month-old deadlock pitting thousands of indigenous pipeline resisters and their allies against North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s Congressionally-ratified $10-million emergency law enforcement detail. Organizers described the 1.4-mile Sunday walk from Legion Park as “a time for water protectors to relieve themselves of the burdens of pain, bitterness and anger due to traumatic experiences with police.” Authorities made 416 arrests for “illegal protest activities” from Aug. 10 through Nov. 6 in Morton County, according to the sheriff's department, which shares the Mandan police department’s office building and correctional facility. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit seeks to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from issuing easement permits to build the line across the Oahe Reservoir on the Missouri, which is under federal jurisdiction. It claims lack of consultation. More than 300 tribes back Standing Rock’s effort. Pipeline challengers, settled in spirit camps at the confluence of the Cannon Ball and Missouri rivers on the northern edge of Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation since April 1, have been conducting prayer gatherings and civil disobedience actions to gain sympathy for the goal of protecting sacred sites and water from construction and oil spills threatened by the pipeline nicknamed DAPL. After Morton County Commissioners declared a state-of-emergency over the opponents’ activities, Dalrymple responded Aug. 19 by invoking “the total utilization of the North Dakota State Emergency Operations Plan” to deploy hundreds of officers from numerous jurisdictions with full riot gear, automatic rifles, concussion grenades, night sticks, Tasers, pepper spray, tear gas, sound cannons, armored vehicles, aircraft support, and mobile communications units.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Kirchmeier blames out-of-state agitators for discourse (Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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