Pipeline protest camp cleared out

Authorities arrest three dozen who refused to leave.

Authorities on Thursday cleared a protest camp where oppo- nents of the Dakota Access oil pipeline had gathered for the better part of a year. Three dozen holdouts who had defied a government order to leave were arrested.

It took 3 ½ hours for about 220 officers and 18 National Guard members to method- ically search the protesters’ temporary homes and make the arrests. Those detained included a man who climbed atop a building and stayed there for more than an hour before surrendering.

Native Americ ans who oppose the $3.8 billion pipe- line established the Oceti Sakowin camp last April on federal land near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to draw attention to their concerns that the project will hurt the environment and sacred sites — claims that Dal- las-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners disputes. The camp gained increased attention starting in August after its population grew and authorities made their first arrests.

At its height, the camp included thousands of peo- ple, but the numbers had dwindled during the winter as the fight over the pipeline moved into the courts.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the site, said it needed to clear the camp ahead of spring flooding, and had ordered everyone to leave by 2 p.m. Wednesday. The agency said it was concerned about the protesters’ safety and about the environmental effects of tents, cars, garbage and other items in the camp being washed into nearby rivers.

Most protesters left peacefully Wednesday, but some stayed overnight in defiance of the government order.

Before the arrests, protester Ed Higgins 39, of Lowell, Mass., said by phone from the camp that morale was high and opponents were prepared to stay as long as necessary. The protesters maintain that the camp is on land that rightfully belongs to American Indians under old treaties.

“They do not own the land. They do not have the right to be here,” said Higgins.

As police in full riot gear worked to arrest the stragglers, cleanup crews began razing buildi n gs on the square-mile piece of property at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers.

American Indian activist Chase Iron Eyes, an outspoken supporter of the camp, said its shutdown isn’t the end of the fight against the pipeline.

“The battleground has shifted to the legal courts and the court of public opinion,” he said, referring to lawsuits filed by tribes and an effort planned by the Lakota People’s Law Project to rally lawmakers and others in Washington, D.C., to their cause.

Authorities entered the camp “cautiously and tactfully” to ensure the safety of officers and protesters, according to Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson. The arrests were a last resort, he said.

“We did not want this. Unfortunately, there were some bad actors that forced us into this position,” he said.

Only one person resisted arrest; otherwise there were no major incidents, and there were no injuries, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said.