Dozens of Dakota Pipeline Protesters Are Arrested

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/us/dakota-pipeline-protesters-arrested.html

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The authorities in North Dakota said on Wednesday that they had arrested about 75 protesters just south of a bridge that has become a focal point of demonstrations over the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The dozens arrested belong to what the Morton County Sheriff’s Department described in a statement as a “rogue group” that had set up camp on private property south of the Backwater Bridge, the site of previous standoffs between demonstrators and the police.

After instructing the group to take down the camp, law enforcement officers advanced on the site around 3:30 p.m. local time and cleared the area within about a half-hour, according to the statement.

“Regardless of this incident, it is our desire to continue the dialogue with tribal and camp leaders so that the camps continue to be cleaned and protesters leave prior to the flooding season,” the Morton County sheriff, Kyle Kirchmeier, said in a statement.

Representatives of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe worked with officers to collect tepee hides left at the site, according to the department, which said it had made nearly 700 arrests during protests since Aug. 10.

“We hope the arrestees are treated fairly and justly,” David Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock reservation’s official tribal government, said in a statement.

About a week ago, President Trump acted to expedite the $3.7 billion pipeline, which the Army had sidetracked in December.

Despite reports on Tuesday suggesting that the Army Corps of Engineers had approved a final element of the pipeline, an Army Corps spokesman told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it had only begun its review of an easement, which is necessary for the pipeline’s completion.

In response to the news of the easement on Tuesday night, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said it would pursue legal action to ensure that the Army Corps conducted an environmental impact study before granting an easement.