The Standing Rock Sioux are seeking an emergency restraining order on Tuesday after sacred sites were destroyed
Story Transcript
JAISAL NOOR, TRNN: The battle over the Dakota Access pipeline is heating up after Energy Transfer Partners attacked protesters rallying against the destruction of sites sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota. On Tuesday the native resistance showed no signs of slowing down, carrying out further direct action to halt the construction of the pipeline that threatens land and water sacred to native people. SPEAKER: We’re just here to stop the destruction of mother earth. She’s standing up for the water, she’s standing up for the children, she’s standing up against meth and all this violence that these machines and this destructive way of life brings into our communities. NOOR: While the mainstream media has been largely silent on this issue. On Saturday video captured by Democracy Now showed private security guards using pepper spray and dogs against peaceful protestors. We reached out to Energy Transfer Partners for an interview and are awaiting a statement. Meanwhile law enforcement called the actions a riot, the protesters attacked the workers. We reached Earth Justice who is representing the Standing Rock Sioux and they told us they filed a fresh restraining order Sunday. A hearing for the case is scheduled for 3PM Tuesday. On Friday the tribe filed a brief mapping out the sacred sites adjacent to the construction site for the Dakota Access pipeline. According to Earth Justice, the response from Energy Transfer Partners was to bulldoze those identified sites even though they were not in the path of the pipeline. Tribal expert, Tim Mentz filed the brief on Friday. TIM MENTZ: There was portions of these sites that we had just filed Friday in US District Court in Washington, DC as an amendment to the declaration that I provided initially, August 24th when the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed sued suit in the form of a preliminary injunction to stop the Dakota Access. They were looking at an area here that has been scrapped. It’s a 150-foot corridor. There was multiple sites within this corridor section. We were never allowed to get right inside the 150 corridor but we recorded outside looking in and we had 82 features along this corridor. 27 graves were identified within this area. NOOR: Also on Friday we interviewed Krystal Two Bulls, a water protector with Red Warrior Camp. She described the native convergence gathered in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline as one of the largest in over a century KRYSTAL TWO BULLS: This is the first time that the Seven Council Fires–so the seven different bands of the Očhéthi akówiŋ, or also known as the Great Sioux Nation have been together since 1876 during the Battle of Little Bighorn. And that was the only time the U.S. military has been defeated on what they claim to be the United States’ turf. NOOR: The Real News will keep bringing you updates on this story. This is Jaisal Noor.
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