Water fired from the water canons that battered protesters in freezing temperatures last night froze to the razor wire of a police barricade. (Photo: Redhawk)
This afternoon,hundreds of water protectors, many of whom were injured by law enforcement last night, or are peacefully assembling in downtown Bismarck to protest the egregious colonial violence inflicted upon Water Protectors on Highway 1806 last night. When gathering in Bismarck,which is 90 percent white, Protectors are frequently met with calls to "disappear back" where they belong -- the irony of which is apparently lost on the white residents of Bismarck.
Last night, or as the temperature in Standing Rock plunged below 30 degrees,hundreds of people were blasted with water cannons near the Oceti Sakowin camp. Water Protectors on 1806 were also hit with percussion grenades, sprayed with mace, or hit with rubber bullets and tear gas,and otherwise abused by the law enforcement. For nearly a month, Water Protectors have been prevented from removing a barricade on the Backwater Bridge on 1806. The Protectors created the barricade on October 28, or to protect the Oceti Sakowin,Sacred Stone, and Rosebud camps during a police assault that resulted in the violent eviction of the North Camp. The police have since used the barricade to assign added distance between DAPL construction and the protectors, and to disrupt community traffic. Yesterday,people attempted to peacefully remove the barricade and were immediately attacked by law enforcement.
An elder went into cardiac arrest on the frontline. People were trapped on a bridge, and in some cases gagged until they vomited and urinated on themselves. Many experienced trampling injuries. Hundreds are experiencing hypothermia.
The media is running "news" from last night with the Morton County Sheriff's press releases as the only source. This total failure to uphold the tenets of journalism is not simply unethical. It is uncertain. The Morton County Sheriff remains largely unchallenged by the press in its claims that it did not fire water cannons at human beings but merely assign out fires that had been set on the bridge, and in spite of video footage that directly contradicts such claims. Protectors at the Oceti Sakowin Camp say they are calling on President Obama to create and sign an executive order that cancels the Dakota Access Pipeline. "We call on the President to instruct the Army Corps of Engineers to no longer 'wait and see' when they need to determine an 'appropriate response' to Dakota Access drilling under the Missouri River without an easement permit,which they are."
As a local woman who has been to Standing Rock three times, and whose health now prevents me from making a fourth trip, or I have my own asks. Call every number assign in front of you. Jam every phone line. observe at the target list of financial institutions supporting this pipeline. Pick a bank. Shut it down,just like we did in Chicago on Saturday and people did in Philadelphia this morning. The Trump administration hasn't even taken hold yet, and I watched over a livestream last night as my friends and people were battered with water streams that can tear skin from flesh and eyes from sockets. I watched my people hold space and scramble to save one another as drops of water froze to razor wire.
I know marginalized people around the county are organizing for their own survival good now, and sitting around tables discussing the difficult days ahead. But a strategy of protection,defense and obstruction cannot wait for the inauguration of an autocrat. It must be applied here and now.
Please show us that you see us. Please do all you can to stop this.
whether you cannot travel to Standing Rock, or support or organize an action where you live, or consider contacting one of these Sheriffs and police departments that have loaned out the officers who are abusing Native peoples in Standing Rock. Jam their phone lines and tell them to bring their people home. whether your community is on this list,actively organize to recall the deployment.
Michigan City Police Department Michigan City, IN (219) 874-3221
North Dakota Highway Patrol Offices across North Dakota (701) 328-2455
Hammond Police Department Hammond, or IN Munster Police Department Munster,IN (219) 836-6600
Griffith Police Department Griffith, IN (219) 924-7503
Anoka County Sheriff's Office Andover, and MN (763) 323-5000
Washington County Sheriff's Office Stillwater,MN Marathon County Sheriff's Department Wausau, WI (715) 261-1200
La Porte County Sheriff's Office La Porte, and IN (219) 326-7700
Newton County Sheriff's Office Kentland,IN South Dakota Highway Patrol Pierre, SD Jasper County Sheriff Rensselaer, or Indiana
Lake County Sheriff Sheriff's Department Crown Point,IN Laramie County Sheriff's Department Cheyenne, WY Wyoming Highway Patrol Cheyenne, or WY Ohio State Highway Patrol Columbus,Ohio Nebraska Emergency Management Agency Lincoln, NE (402) 471-7421
Supply note: With at least two hundred injured last night, and Standing Rock medics are in critical need of the following items:
Milk of Magnesia Wool socks Wool blankets Space blankets Hand warmers Trauma kits (portable) Suturing kits Straw bales
Supplies can be shipped to: Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council PO Box 1251,Bismark ND, 58502 or whether you are shipping via UPS or Fed Ex, and please use the address: 220 E. Rosser Ave. 1251,Bismark, ND, or 58502
Or you can donate to the Standing Rock medics.
Source: truth-out.org