Dakota Access Pipeline protest turns violent

CANNON BALL, N.D. - With construction of the Dakota Access pipeline they are fighting continuing in the distance, protesters who have drawn international attention to their cause lost ground Thursday to authorities armed with batons, pepper spray and a sound cannon in what was becoming a violent confrontation with reports of gunfire.

Authorities cleared a forward camp near here of more than 200 protesters, making at least 117 arrests and removing tents erected by Native American demonstrators, some who have come from across the country to try to stop the crude oil pipeline from traversing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's drinking water supply and sacred lands.

Protesters at the forward camp - on land recently purchased by the Dallas-based pipeline developer - and at nearby road blockades responded by setting logs and tires ablaze to slow the progress of law officers and National Guard soldiers on foot, in Humvees and in buses.

According to the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, the opposition went much further.

In one situation, the department said, someone was forced from the road and shot in the hand by a protester.

In the other, a woman being arrested at the forward protest camp fired three shots toward advancing law enforcement officers, the department said, missing them.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II repeated his call for the U.S. Department of Justice to send observers.

'They must step in and hold the state of North Dakota and Morton County accountable for their acts of violence against innocent, prayerful people,” he said in a statement, while urging the 'water protectors” to remain in peace. 'Any act of violence hurts our cause and is not welcome here,” he said

Protesters had designated a segment of Highway 1806 as their 'no surrender” line in efforts to keep the pipeline from crossing the nearby Missouri River.

Thursday, about 80 people were facing off with law enforcement at a bridge on County Road 134 near the highway, the Morton County Sheriff's Department said.

At 4:40 p.m., protesters set fire to logs next to a truck on the bridge.

Just west of the bridge, more than 50 law enforcement officers, along with tactical and military vehicles, sat in waiting. Fire crews were called in to extinguish the initial blaze.

Julie Richards of Pine Ridge, S.D., who had attached herself to construction equipment at an earlier protests sat along the creek, watching the fire burn.

'I think this is awesome,” she said. 'We've gotta protect our water any way we can.”

Earlier in the day, law officers encouraged protesters to retreat from the forward camp and road blockades to another, larger camp to the south - one on federal instead of private land.

But as protesters remained by midafternoon, authorities moved to clear the front-line camp, taking down tents.

Nonetheless, as pipeline construction crews worked nearby, protesters broke through a fence and entered a field where work progressed. Officers formed a line and forced them back.

On social media, several denounced authorities for using aggressive tactics, including pepper spray and Tasers. In a news release, the Sheriff's Department said it used a long range acoustic device - or an LRAD sound cannon - to send out a high-pitch tone and disperse the crowd.

The underground pipeline, which is mostly complete, will ship oil from North Dakota's Bakken fields through a slice of South Dakota, across 18 counties in Iowa and to a distribution hub in Illinois.

Information from the Forum News Service was used in this report.