title: comment on this is the man militarized police at standing rock are working for by hawkmo
text: posted on october   by claire bernish 
  cannon ball nd  on thursday police from no less than five states sporting full riot gear and armed with heavy lethal and nonlethal weaponry pepper spray mace a number of atvs five tanks two helicopters and militaryequipped humvees showed up to tear down an encampment of standing rock sioux water protectors and supporters armed with  nothing 
  under orders from the nownotorious morton county sheriffs office this ridiculously heavyhanded standing army came better prepared to do battle than some actual military units fighting overseas 
  but the target of their operation  a group of slightly more than  native american water protectors and supporters opposing construction of the dakota access pipeline  never intended to do battle with the armed taxpayerfunded corporatebacked statesponsored aggressors 
  reports vary but no less than  people were arrested thursday and  according to witnesses  police marked numbers on arrestees arms and housed them in cementfloored dog kennels  without any padding before they were transported as far away as fargo 
  it goes back to concentration camp days asserted ocetisakowin coordinator mekasi camphorinek who along with his mother was marked and detained in a mesh kennel reports the los angeles times  
  although thursdays incident remained relatively peaceful for some time with only shouts chants and occasional attempts by water protectors to convince this standing army to examine its motives and reconsider clashes nonetheless broke out  solely because of gratuitous police aggression 
  after facing off for a couple hours these militant cops began closing in on the water protectors to shut down the treaty of  camp  in reference to the fort laramie treaty of that year which established a large parcel of land designated exclusively native american territory not to be disturbed by the us government prior to his arrest camphorinek had established the camp stating as cited by indigenous rising  
  today the oceti sakowin has enacted eminent domain on dapl lands claiming  treaty rights this is unceded land highway  as of this point is blockaded we will be occupying this land and staying here until this pipeline is permanently stopped we need bodies and we need people who are trained in nonviolent direct action we are still staying nonviolent and we are still staying peaceful 
  despite the water protectors commitment to nonviolence the militarized police response went as would be expected  horribly awry 
  a prayer circle of elders including several women was interrupted and all were arrested for standing peacefully on the public road stated a press release from indigenous environment network a tipi was erected in the road and was recklessly dismantled despite law enforcement statements that they would merely mark the tipi with a yellow ribbon and ask its owners to retrieve it a group of water protectors was also dragged out of a sweat lodge ceremony erected in the path of the pipeline thrown to the ground and arrested 
  claims to the contrary by morton county sheriff kyle kirchmeier aside native american and indigenous water protectors and supporters have refrained from violent acts on the whole preferring instead peaceful prayer vigils and acts of civil disobedience 
  no matter how peacefully the opposition acts armed defenders of big oil interests seem determined to brutalize  disrespect and generally incite and inflict violence against those who desire unsullied water for generations to come 
  in fact at the beginning of september a private security firm hired by energy transfer partners the company responsible for pipeline construction indiscriminately unleashed vicious attack dogs on water protectors press and supporters  for reasons as yet unknown 
  during the savage attack a pregnant woman young girl and many others suffered serious dog bites thanks to the ineptitude of the dogs handlers afterward a warrant for inciting a riot was issued democracy now journalist amy goodman  for doing her job filming events as they happened  though charges were subsequently thrown out 
  although etp and some law enforcement officers defended the barbarous actions of the private security mercenaries the guardian now reports that  because the guards lacked proper licensing  they could now face criminal charges on wednesday the morton county sheriffs office made the determination that dog handlers were not properly licensed to do security work in the state of north dakota 
  bob frost owner of ohiobased frost kennels told the guardian  all the proper protocols  were already done i pulled my guys out the next day because we werent there to go to war with these protesters 
  frost insisted he had cooperated with authorities investigating the incident  but the sheriffs department disagrees seven handlers and dogs were deployed to the scene in early september allegedly in response to reports of trespassers but according to the guardian  police have only managed to identify two people 
  the sheriffs department claims frost has not provided necessary information and unnamed security officials cited in the report said that there were no intentions of using the dogs or handlers for security work  however because of the protest events the dogs were deployed as a method of trying to keep the protesters under control 
  in a statement cited by the guardian  morton county captain jay gruebele said although lists of security employees have been provided there is no way of confirming whether the list is accurate or if names have been purposely withheld 
  water protectors in the meantime are left to deal with absurdly disproportionate state violence  and the altogether unacceptable disrespectful and demeaning insult of being relegated to dog kennels after being arrested for exercising their rights 
  as lakota country times editor brandon ecoffey wrote in an editorial thursday 
  over the course of the last several months the abuse of detainees by morton county law enforcement has overstepped every boundary guaranteed by the american constitution water protectors have been seen being bound and hooded by police people are being stripped searched and abused within their jail for misdemeanor crimes and police have employed the use of mass surveillance through drones on the protector camps this isnt a war zone this is north dakota dont forget to follow the dc clothesline on facebook and twitter please help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks share this