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East Oregonian
Friday, October 28, 2016
Police, National Guard remove oil pipeline protesters
CANNON BALL, N.D.
(AP) — Law enforcement
officers dressed in riot
gear and firing bean bags
and pepper spray evicted
protesters Thursday from
private land in the path of the
Dakota Access oil pipeline,
dramatically escalating a
monthslong dispute over
Native American rights and
the project’s environmental
impact.
In an operation that took
nearly six hours, hundreds of
armed state and local police
and National Guard — some
on foot and others in trucks,
military
Humvees
and
buses — pushed past burning
barricades to slowly envelop
the camp.
No serious injuries were
reported, though one man was
hurt in the leg and received
treatment from a medic.
Donnell
Hushka,
a
spokeswoman for the Morton
County Sheriff’s Department,
said 117 protesters had been
arrested as of 8:15 p.m.
Thursday. She said Morton
County will be using other
jails to house people.
Those arrested for misde-
meanors can bond out, but
those facing felonies will
have to be held for initial
court appearances, she said.
The possessions of those
arrested are being collected
and protesters can identify the
belongings and claim them
later, she said.
Among those arrested
was a woman who pulled
out a .38-caliber pistol and
fired three times at officers,
narrowly missing a sheriff’s
deputy, State Emergency
Services
spokeswoman
Cecily Fong said. Officers did
not return fire, she said.
Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier
said the camp had been
cleared by nightfall although
police were still dealing with
protesters on the perimeter.
Though officials earlier said
they planned to turn the
site over to private security,
Kirchmeier said police would
stay for now.
“We’re not leaving the
area,” he said. “We are just
going to make sure that we
maintain a presence in the area
so the roadway stays open,
and to keep individuals from
camping on private land.”
Opponents of the pipeline
over the weekend set up camp
on private land owned by
Texas-based Energy Transfer
Partners, which is working to
complete the 1,200-mile pipe-
line to carry oil from western
North Dakota to Illinois. The
route skirts the Standing Rock
Reservation and the tribe
says it could endanger water
supplies and disturb cultural
TRIAL: Bundys will go on
trial in Nevada early next year
Continued from 1A
Even attorneys for the
defendants were surprised by
the acquittals.
“It’s stunning. It’s a stun-
ning victory for the defense,”
said Robert Salisbury, attorney
for defendant Jeff Banta. “I’m
speechless.”
Said defendant Neil
Wampler: “This is a tremen-
dous victory for rural America
and it is a well-deserved,
overwhelming defeat for a
corrupt and predatory federal
government.”
The U.S Attorney in
Oregon, Billy J. Williams,
issued a statement defending
the decision to bring charges
against the seven defendants:
“We strongly believe that this
case needed to be brought
before a Court, publicly tried,
and decided by a jury.
The Oregon case is a
continuation of the tense
standoff with federal officials
at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in
2014. Cliven, Ammon and
Ryan Bundy are among
those who are to go on trial
in Nevada early next year for
that standoff.
While the charges in
Oregon accused defendants
of preventing federal workers
from getting to their work-
place, the case in Nevada
revolves around allegations of
a more direct threat: An armed
standoff involving dozens
of Bundy backers pointing
weapons including assault-
style rifles at federal Bureau of
Land Management agents and
contract cowboys rounding
up cattle near the Bundy ranch
outside Bunkerville.
Daniel Hill, attorney for
Ammon Bundy in the Nevada
case, said he believed the
acquittal in Oregon bodes
well for his client and the
other defendants facing felony
weapon, conspiracy and other
charges.
“When the jury here hears
the whole story, I expect the
same result,” Hill told The
Associated Press in Las Vegas.
Hill also said he’ll seek his
client’s release from federal
custody pending trial in
Nevada.
Ammon Bundy and his
followers took over the
Oregon bird sanctuary on
Jan. 2. They objected to
prison sentences handed
down to Dwight and Steven
Hammond, two local ranchers
convicted of setting fires.
They demanded the govern-
ment free the father and son
and relinquish control of
public lands to local officials.
The Bundys and other
key figures were arrested in
a Jan. 26 traffic stop outside
the refuge that ended with
police
fatally
shooting
Robert “LaVoy” Finicum,
an occupation spokesman.
Most occupiers left after
his death, but four holdouts
remained until Feb. 11, when
they surrendered following a
lengthy negotiation.
Federal prosecutors took
two weeks to present their
case, finishing with a display
of more than 30 guns seized
after the standoff. An FBI
agent testified that 16,636 live
rounds and nearly 1,700 spent
casings were found.
During trial, Bundy testi-
fied that the plan was to take
ownership of the refuge by
occupying it for a period of
time and then turn it over to
local officials to use as they
saw fit.
Bundy also testified that
the occupiers carried guns
because they would have
been arrested immediately
otherwise and to protect
themselves against possible
government attack.
The bird sanctuary take-
over drew sympathizers from
around the West.
It also drew a few
protesters who were upset
that the armed occupation
was preventing others from
using the land. They included
Kieran Suckling, executive
director of the Center for
Biological Diversity.
Suckling on Thursday
called
the
acquittals
“extremely disturbing” for
“anyone who cares about
America’s public lands,
the rights of native people
and their heritage, and a
political system that refuses
to be bullied by violence and
racism.
“The Bundy clan and their
followers peddle a dangerous
brand of radicalism aimed at
taking over lands owned by
all of us. I worry this verdict
only emboldens the kind of
intimidation and right-wing
violence that underpins their
movement,” Suckling said.
Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP
Dakota Access Pipeline protesters sit in a prayer circle
at the Front Line Camp as a line of law enforcement
officers make their way across the camp to remove the
protesters and relocate to the overflow camp a few
miles to the south on Highway 1806 in Morton County,
N.D., Thursday.
sites. The state of North
Dakota says no sensitive
cultural sites have been found
in the area.
The tribe has gone to court
to challenge the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers’ decision
granting permits at more
than 200 water crossings. A
federal judge in September
denied their request to block
construction,
but
three
federal agencies stepped in
to order construction to halt
on Corps-owned land around
Lake Oahe, a wide spot of
the Missouri River, while
the Corps reviewed its deci-
sion-making.
Construction was allowed
to continue on private land
owned by the developer, with
a goal of completion by the
end of the year.
Thursday’s operation to
push out the protesters began
a day after they had refused
to leave voluntarily. Law
enforcement repeatedly asked
protesters to retreat, at one
point using a high-pitched
whistle they said was intended
to “control and disperse”
protesters.
The camp cleared on
Thursday is located just to the
north of a more permanent
and larger encampment on
federally owned land that has
been the main staging area
for hundreds of protesters,
including Native Americans
from across North America,
environmentalists and some
celebrities.
Many protesters openly
defied the officers, while
others took part in prayer
circles and burned sage.
Cody Hall, a spokesman
for the protesters, vowed a
new camp would be built
elsewhere in the pipeline’s
path, but on federal land.
“It’s going to take a lot to
move them (protesters) from
there,” he said.
Authorities said protesters
set fire to four large pieces
of construction equipment.
At least two cars were also
burned.
Aaron Johnson, 50, a
member of the Cheyenne
River Sioux in South Dakota,
said he and other protesters
weren’t happy with the day’s
outcome. “I came here for
peace and prayer,” he said.
“When somebody sets some-
thing on fire, that’s not peace
and prayer.”
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