Police arrest 141 Native Americans at oil pipeline protest
Police have arrested 141 Native Americans and other protesters in North Dakota in a tense standoff between law enforcement and demonstrators seeking to halt construction of a disputed oil pipeline.
Police in riot gear used pepper spray and armoured vehicles in an effort to disperse an estimated 330 protesters and clear a camp on private property in the path of the proposed US$ 3.8 billion ($ 5.3b) Dakota Access Pipeline, according to photos and statements released by the Morton County Sheriff ’s Department.
Some protesters responded by throwing rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at police, attaching themselves to vehicles and starting fires, police said.
A female protester fired three rounds at the police line before she was arrested, the department said.
In another shooting incident, a man was taken into custody after a man was shot in the hand.
The 1885km pipeline, being built by a group of companies led by Energy Transfer Partners LP, would offer the fastest and most direct route to bring Bakken shale oil from North Dakota to US Gulf Coast refineries.
But the pipeline has drawn the ire of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and environmental activists who say it threatens the water supply and sacred tribal sites.
They have been protesting for several months, and dozens have been arrested.
Native American protesters had occupied the site since Monday, saying they were the land’s rightful owners under an 1851 treaty with the US Government.
Members of the Standing Rock Sioux yesterday asked Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to oppose the pipeline. She has not taken a public position on the issue.