Cannon Ball, ND – This morning more than 100 water protectors entered a Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) construction site.

A live video posted to Facebook shows a crowd gathered in an area where land had been cleared. Welded sections of pipe were laid out on pallets on the ground.

Trees planted in pipeline path. Prayers on the wind. All work stopped for today. #Onward #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/QEn6o6rrD2

— tara houska ᔖᐳᐌᑴ (@zhaabowekwe) September 25, 2016

Trees were planted in locations where it is known that Dakota Access plans to bury their pipe.  Prayer ties were also placed on the heavy construction equipment being used to build the pipeline.

We are protectors, not protesters. We pray for the water, for the land, for the seventh generation. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/KEWSYwwYT3

— tara houska ᔖᐳᐌᑴ (@zhaabowekwe) September 25, 2016

Another Facebook live video posted earlier in the day shows a group of water protectors at a Dakota Access construction location in Winfred, South Dakota.  Prayer ties were placed around the entrance doors to the equipment, meaning workers would have to cut through the ties before being able to operate the machinery.

In this video tweeted this morning by the Indigenous Environmental Network, a water protector calls on supporters to send their own prayer ties to agencies and politicians responsible for permitting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Sep25: A message from the prayer camp following ceremony. Watch & share! #noDAPL #MniWiconi #WaterIsLife pic.twitter.com/5aMMJ8abzj

— Indigenous Environmental Network (@IENearth) September 25, 2016

Red Warrior Camp issued this statement about today’s events, via Natalie Hand of the Lakota Media Project:

WATER PROTECTORS SHUT DOWN THE CONTINUED CONSTRUCTION OF THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE

By: Natalie Hand, Lakota Media Project

1851 Ft. Laramie Treaty Territory, Cannon Ball, ND… Hundreds of tribal members and allies marched onto active and ongoing construction sites of the Dakota Access Pipeline today. Water protectors brought offerings of prayer, ceremony, drums, and tribal nation flags to construction sites to expose illegal company actions.

 

Julie Richards, founder of Mothers Against Meth Alliance (M.A.M.A.) based in Pine Ridge, South Dakota stated, “Our ancestors fought for our rights to clean water and to have a good way of life and now we’re fighting to make sure that our daughters and great granddaughters can also have those rights and a better life. All this land is sacred to us- it’s our ancestral homelands and part of the designated treaty territory.”

 

On September 9, 2016, the United States Army Corps of Engineers issued an order to temporarily cease all work within 20 miles of the Lake Oahe/Missouri River but Dakota Access Pipeline construction crews have used the public’s perception of halted activity to aggressively continue destructive construction within the buffer zone. Each morning hundreds of workers employed to lay and weld pipes, underbore roads, and install valve controls travel by the busloads to dozens of sites, working 6-7 days a week. This activity violates both Federal treaties with the Oceti Sakowin and the Obama Administration’s orders to halt construction.

 

“We need to be aware that this 20 mile buffer zone is imaginary. They’re still laying pipe- moving it towards us- towards the water we’re protecting. Progress on easements is continuing even though they don’t consider it construction.” stated Kate Thunderbolt, a water protector.

 

Ms. Thunderbolt went on to emphasize that the action demonstrates how the gathering of over 250 tribes, the largest in decades, represents an ability to escalate the force of peaceful resistance to stop the pipeline.

 

“We want a unity action to bring all the camps within Oceti Sakown together as one. With our unity we will bring the power of the people to stop this oncoming black snake. From each camp within Oceti Sakown we have the power to come together to show the world we are in unity in stopping their construction of destruction.” added Thunderbolt.

 

Water protectors have taken it upon themselves to defend their indigenous rights and say if construction continues daily then action to stop construction will also continue daily.

 

So far no arrests have taken place as a result of today’s actions.  We will provide updates on the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline as events continue to unfold.

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To see Unicorn Riot’s coverage of the Sacred Stone Camp and frontline anti-pipeline struggle, see below.

• After covering the camp in the spring of 2016, Unicorn Riot returned to Standing Rock Reservation on Wednesday, August 10th, when Standing Rock tribal members and allies blocked the entrance to the Dakota Access Pipeline construction site.
• On Thursday, August 11th, a dozen or so people were arrested blocking the construction site entrances.
• Day 3, Friday, the fight to protect land & water intensified around the construction sites of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
• On the 4th day, the pipeline resistance encampment swelled and prepared for more action.
• Monday, August 15th, land defenders stormed the construction site halting construction, and the next day construction was halted as well.
• August 17th saw State Police begin checkpoints, roadblocks, and psyops as protesters united to defend water.
• August 24th, camps prepared as Federal injunction hearing looms.
• Camps Organize to Stay as Injunction Postponed.
• On August 31st, Non-Violent Direct Action Stopped DAPL Construction for Over 6 Hours.

September 2016

• Indigenous Water Protectors Swarm Dakota Access Pipeline Site, Stop Work
• Ongoing #NoDAPL Water Protection Actions – Interview With Uŋpa Nuŋpa
• North Dakota Highway Patrol Refuses to Release Emails with Energy Transfer Partners
• ND National Guard Take Over Dakota Access Pipeline Checkpoints
• US Govt. Overrules Federal Judge, Orders Pipeline Construction Halted at Lake Oahe
• Cultural Activities Continue at #NoDAPL Camps, More Arrests/Warrants
• 20 Arrested During #NoDAPL Lockdown, Including 2 Unicorn Riot Journalists
• Direct Actions Continue Against Dakota Access Pipeline, Legal Repression Intensifies
• Federal Judge Throws Out Dakota Access, LLC Restraining Order Against Stranding Rock Tribal Members
• Federal Appeals Court Halts Dakota Access Segment as Solidarity Protests Spread Nationwide
• #NoDAPL Noise Demo Demands Freedom for Jailed Water Protector Olowan Martinez
• Water Protectors Disrupt North Dakota Petroleum Council Annual Meeting

For our coverage earlier this spring of the Sacred Stone Camp, see May 27th report, “Dakota Access Pipeline Blockade Enters 2nd Month“; May 5th, “Sacred Stone Camp Resists Dakota Access Pipeline“; April 3rd, “Tribal Citizens Build Camp in Path of Oil Pipeline“; March 29th, “Tribal Citizens Prepare to Blockade Bakken Oil Pipeline“.