Yahoo – AFP, Nova Safo, September 5, 2016
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| Native Americans ride with raised fists to a sacred burial ground that was disturbed by bulldozers building the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), September 4, 2016 near Cannon Ball, North Dakota (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck) |
Cannon Ball
(United States) (AFP) - Protesters camping near Native American lands in North
Dakota to protest the construction of an oil pipeline clashed late Saturday
with construction company workers they blamed for destroying ancient sites.
Hundreds of
protesters confronted a bulldozer crew in an area known as Cannon Ball, amid
the vast grasslands of the northern US state.
The
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe claims the crew dug up and destroyed sacred burial
grounds, places of prayer and other cultural artefacts -- even after the
pipeline developer had voluntarily paused construction in the disputed area
less than a mile (1.6 kilometer) from the tribe's reservation.
Angry
protesters broke through a fence and fought with private security guards, who
employed dogs and pepper spray.
"They
tried to push us back with their trucks and their bulldozers, but we just kept
on coming," Seeyouma Nashcid, a protester from Arizona, told AFP.
Some
protesters were left bloodied, and displayed signs of dog bites. The Morton
County Sherriff's department said three private security guards were injured
after being struck with fence posts and flag poles.
The tribe,
whose reservation is located just south of where the 1,200-mile
(1,900-kilometer) pipeline would cross the Missouri River, has been locked in a
court battle to stop the project, which it says would endanger its drinking
water and destroy historic sites.
Members of
American Indian tribes from across the United States have rallied in support,
gathering for months in a makeshift camp near the reservation.
On
Saturday, protesters were suddenly alerted to renewed digging, a day after the
tribe filed evidence in court of dozens of newly discovered artefacts, grave
markers and sacred sites.
 |
Native
Americans march to the site of a sacred burial ground that was disturbed
by
bulldozers building the Dakota Access oil pipeline near Cannon Ball, North
Dakota on September 4, 2016 (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)
|
The tribe
said in a statement that a two-mile stretch was destroyed before the bulldozer
crew was confronted and stopped.
"This
demolition is devastating," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairman David
Archambault said in a statement. "These grounds are the resting places of
our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be
replaced."
Witnesses
said law enforcement officers were nearby during Saturday's clashes but did not
immediately intervene. But sheriff's spokeswoman Donnell Preskey said deputies
"were not on the scene when the conflict initially occurred," and
arrived later.
The
sheriff's office was notified of the situation by an emergency call from a
private security officer.
Citing the
safety and security of law enforcement, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier
said that the number of protesters made it "unsafe for officers to
directly respond until further officers were able to respond."
A federal
judge is expected to decide by September 9 whether to grant a temporary
injunction to stop the pipeline construction under the river, as the tribe
pursues its lawsuit.
The
pipeline's US developer Energy Transfer Partners did not return a call for
comment placed during a holiday weekend.
 |
Members of
the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe confront bulldozers working on the
Dakota Access
Pipeline in an effort to make them stop near Cannon Ball, North
Dakota on
September 03, 2016 (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)
|
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