Large Police Action Underway at DAPL Site

A large police action is under way near Highway 1806 about three miles from the Cannonball River, where water protectors from the three camps near Standing Rock Sioux Reservation have claimed treaty territory as a fourth camp.

This camp, known as the Treaty Camp (in reference to the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which designated the land as belonging to the Great Sioux Nation), sits squarely across the highway in the path of the Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL). Pipeline construction has encroached approximately 17 miles into the 20-mile voluntary exclusion zone designated by federal agencies during an attempt at resolving the dispute over the pipeline route.

Around midday activists have reported to ICTMN and on Facebook that the police have begun to remove the water protectors from the 1851 Camp. Some information is available from the KGW-TV Facebook page and live feed under the post, “Police Are Removing #NoDAPL Pipeline Protestors From Private Property Near Cannonball, ND.”

Activists Dallas Goldtooth and LaDonna Allard have reported that no one has been arrested, but police on loudspeaker are telling the protectors to leave. A large contingent of police and security appears to be protecting pipeline construction bulldozers and crews, which are actively working on the other side of the highway. Allard, Goldtooth and KGW-TV’s live feeds captured some of the activity before their connection was disrupted. Protectors and activists conjecture that a plane circling overhead might be responsible for jamming signals.

“I’m here. We are surrounded. Elders, kids, babies here too,” educator, mother and ICTMN correspondent Sarah Sunshine Manning told us by e-mail. “Bulldozers are beginning construction again at former place of desecration. Constant sirens.”

The live feeds can be found here: Goldtooth, Allard, NBC affiliate KGW-TV.

This post will be updated as we receive more news from contacts and ICTMN correspondents at the scene.