And in North Dakota, 21 people were arrested Wednesday by police in riot gear, while the group was conducting Native American ceremonies to block construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. The pipeline has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and members of hundreds of other tribes from across the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Land defenders say police carrying assault rifles responded to the ceremonies with armored vehicles, tear gas and helicopters. This is a Sicangu Lakota grandmother.
Land defender: “We had a really nice ceremony. And then we looked, and over that way, and the police—there was a few police. And the next thing I knew, there were like 40 police, and they were all dressed in riot gear. We did exactly what we were told to do, except the ones who were in the road, just to tell everybody, 'Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving.' And I’ve never in my life seen a gun in real life. And I’ve never had a gun pointed at me. And we all went—I went into shock.”