North Dakota leaders urge Obama for pipeline completion

The family of Sophia Wilansky, who is from New York City, provided new details Tuesday about the serious injuries to her arm.

Authorities on Monday defended their decision to douse protesters with water during a skirmish in subfreezing weather near the Dakota Access oil pipeline, and organizers said at least 17 protesters were taken to the hospital – including some who were treated for hypothermia.

Injuries sustained by Sophia Wilansky, 21, of NY prompted thousands of people to donate money for her recovery, which was underway at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Both protesters and law enforcement have released statements this week detailing injuries suffered by police and activists, with each side accusing the other of ratcheting up tensions. That’s when police began spraying tear gas, using water cannons, firing rubber bullets and lobbing concussion grenades, he said.

The injury occurred early Monday as law enforcement officials encountered hundreds of protesters at a bridge on North Dakota Highway 1806 near Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

The men say they hope to return to Standing Rock soon with a group to help with construction and winterization projects before the bitter North Dakota winter sets in. “They have scrap metal, and the sheriff’s office says they did it to themselves – that they blew up their own bombs or something. It’s not Iraq”, Wayne Wilansky said.

Between the two were police, who blocked the protesters from moving down a public road on a bridge over a tributary of the Missouri River. They also shot rubber bullets and tear gas toward the crowd. “This incident remains under investigation by the North Dakota BCI and ATF”.

Coverdell, who is posting video on YouTube of events as Tlingit Girl, was present November 20 when police began to shoot water at protesters in the below-freezing temperatures, as well as rubber bullets and tear gas.

Morton County sheriff’s office spokesman Rob Keller said officers near the campsites about 50 miles south of Mandan observed protesters attempting to build a wooden bridge over a body of water Thursday morning in an effort to reach Turtle Island, a hill where protesters claim burial sites are located. In one video, the contractors can visibly be seen responding to protesters with dogs and reportedly using pepper spray, according to the report.

“Lisondra says he doubts this large a gathering of indigenous people from around the world will happen again in his lifetime”, Jeff says. “We have people who quit their jobs and came to Standing Rock, and they’re not leaving”.

Ireland and Hamilton both said they recognized how uncomfortable and possibly unsafe it could be to spend several days camping in the elements with the other Native American protesters and environmental activists that are opposing the project. “They talk about using non-lethal weapons, but when you’re talking about soaking people with freezing water in frigid temperatures, that’s life-threatening”.

Fort Yates is on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department told the Los Angeles Times that police “didn’t deploy anything that should have caused that type of damage” and maintained that “we’re not sure how her injury was sustained”.

“I think police brutality in the US, there has been a lot of light shed on it in recent years so it is a real issue”, said Cole, 18, who was born in Oregon. The US government on September 9, 2016 sought to stop work on a controversial oil pipeline in North Dakota that has angered Native Americans, blocking any work on federal land and asking the company to “voluntarily pause” work nearby.