The Native occupiers of the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile-long Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota continue to use direct action to prevent further construction on—and destruction of—their ancestral land.
At 5 a.m. CDT today (September 8), at least five protectors—the term members of the Sioux prefer over "protestors"—attached themselves to construction equipment. This is the second action of its kind this week, as parties on both sides wait until Friday, September 9 when a U.S. District Court judge will rule whether to reverse the permits granted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct the pipeline on the Native territory.
Rain ultimately ended the action today, as the pipeline workers couldn’t work in, what the protectors called, “the freshly blessed land.” No arrests were made.
This comes just a day after a North Dakota judge issued an arrest warrant for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who spray-painted a bulldozer on the land Tuesday (September 6). The judge is charging her with vandalism and trespassing. Unicorn Riot, which has been on the ground for weeks now, reported on its Twitter that a private security “K-9 Unit” is now guarding the work site.
Since the charges, Stein has been calling for the state to press charges on Energy Transfer, the company behind the pipeline, which hired private security guards to unleash dogs and mace tribal members and their allies this past weekend.
I hope ND presses charges against the real vandals who bulldoze sacred burial sites. #NoDAPL https://t.co/34e6stP5wQ pic.twitter.com/6Hn3LT1500
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) September 7, 2016
In continued shows of support, rapper Immortal Technique arrived at the site yesterday and will be performing today at 6 p.m. on the Red Warrior Camp. He will be joined by Nahko and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, one of 21 youth suing the federal government for its alleged violation of their generation’s rights by not taking effective action against climate change.