Lee County, IA & Morton County, ND – Three Unicorn Riot journalists who were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing while documenting #NoDAPL direct actions have had their charges dropped in court dates set for the first three days of March.
On Wednesday, March 1,…
Morton County, ND / Lee County, IA – A week after a heavily militarized police force evicted the main #NoDAPL encampment, three Unicorn Riot journalists are set for trial facing criminal trespass charges stemming from our fall 2016 coverage of direct actions intended to stop…
Cannon Ball, ND – The water protector camp that for months formed a beachhead against Dakota Access Pipeline construction was destroyed midday Thursday, February 23rd. A combination of law enforcement and military units forced aside the last inhabitants so the remaining structures could be demolished,…
Cannonball, ND – After nearly a year of struggling against the Dakota Access Pipeline’s construction underneath the Missouri River, water protectors are now scheduled to be evicted from their main encampment. [Watch our LIVE updates below]
UPDATE Thursday, February 23rd, 11:45AM: Our full report from…
Oceti Sakowin, ND – On the morning of Thursday, February 16th, Ladonna Brave Bull Allard, Standing Rock tribal member, landowner and founder of Sacred Stone Camp, was served an eviction notice for Sacred Stone Camp by agents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She reportedly…
Cannon Ball, ND – On February 7th, 2017, the Army Corps of Engineers stated its intent to grant an easement to Dakota Access LLC, to cross Lake Oahe with the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The easement is north of the location where tens of thousands…
Direct opposition to fossil fuel extraction projects continues to spread throughout the USA. Resistance camps mirroring the #NoDAPL encampments opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) have sprung up to resist the Sabal Trail, Trans-Pecos, Comanche, AIM, and Pilgrim Pipelines.
Water protectors are concerned about the …
Minneapolis, MN – Water protectors climbed hundreds of feet up a ladder in the top section of US Bank Stadium and unfurled a 10 foot by 40 foot banner that read “US Bank DIVEST #NoDAPL” in the second quarter of the last Minnesota Vikings game…
Morton County, ND – On Monday, December 19th, water protectors charged with disorderly conduct stemming from their August 11th arrests made their first appearances in Morton County court. The results of the appearances was Judge Cynthia Feland granting a continuance till January 31st, 2017.
The…
Minneapolis, MN – In single digit weather, a dozen or so water protectors disrupted the grand opening of a new Wells Fargo bank in uptown Minneapolis on the morning of December 12th, demanding Wells Fargo divest from funding the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Water protectors w…
Morton County, ND – Documents acquired through a series of public records requests shine light on ongoing out-of-state law enforcement assistance to the Morton County Sheriff and the state of North Dakota in their militarized police operations to protect construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.…
Standing Rock / Oceti Sakowin, ND – Thousands of water protectors and veterans woke up to snow falling on December 5th, the day after the pipeline easement denial. In the early morning veterans amassed themselves at Prairie Knights Casino in Standing Rock, apologized to the…
Update: December 9, 2016 – Responding to a cross-claim filed by Dakota Access last month seeking to green-light pipeline construction under the Missouri river, U.S. District County Judge James Boasberg announced today that a hearing on the matter would not be held until early February…
Minneapolis, MN – Wells Fargo’s corporate office and two banks were targeted in three well-coordinated concurrent actions in Minneapolis, starting the Global Month of #NoDAPL Action on December 1st. Actions across the globe have occurred, with more upcoming events planned, demanding that funders of the…
Boone County, IA – While tensions in North Dakota build as the Oceti Sakowin camp defies state orders to evacuate, Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) construction is still incomplete in Iowa and pipeline opponents are continuing to cause delays. For months the group Mississippi Stand has…
Morton County, ND – The Oceti Sakowin #NoDAPL encampment near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, located on unceded land of the Sioux Nation under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, is a long-contested area and considered by the U.S. government to be property of the…
Update: December 2, 2016 – On Thursday, December 1, Judge Daniel Hovland denied the motion for an emergency restraining order on the procedural grounds that Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier had not yet been served notice of the lawsuit. According to a motion filed by…
UPDATE: Sunday, November 27, 2016 – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a public statement reaffirming they plan to officially close the land which includes the Oceti Sakowin camp. However, the Corps also states that it “has no plans for forcible removal” of the…
UPDATED: November 23, 2016 Cannonball, ND – On the November 20th Highway 1806 standoff, police forces injured over 300 unarmed water protectors.
Among those injured was Sophia Wilansky, a 21-year-old from New York, who was attempting to exit the bridge when police fired multiple rounds…
Oecti Sakowin, ND – On the night of Sunday November 20, the Morton County Sheriff deployed large amounts of tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and other ‘less-lethal’ ammunition, including a water cannon, upon #NoDAPL water protectors. This happened north of the Backwater Bridge on…
St. Paul, MN – A #NoDAPL national day of action occurred on November 15th, 2016 along with actions across the globe in solidarity with the water protectors struggling to prevent the Dakota Access Pipeline from poisoning of the water supply of millions.
Unicorn Riot was…
As the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline continues after fresh battles in North Dakota, where police injured over 300 unarmed water protectors, land defenders and water protectors are momentously standing firm in the face of corporate fossil fuel extraction across ‘Turtle Island’. [‘Turtle Island’…
UPDATE (6/12/17) – Emails released by The Intercept as part of their investigation into leaked documents from DAPL security contractor TigerSwan include an “Intel Group” email thread which took place in real time the night of November 20, 2016. The emails show local, state, and…
Bismarck-Mandan, ND – On Thursday morning, a convoy of water protectors drove from the main Oceti Sakowin encampment to hold demonstrations in the nearby Bismarck-Mandan area.
The caravan first arrived in Mandan, to demonstrate outside a Wells Fargo bank branch demanding Wells Fargo withdraw its…
Jamestown, ND – Emails obtained by Unicorn Riot through a public records request to the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (ND DOCR) raise questions about the deployment of personnel from various state agencies to protect the Dakota Access Pipeline from the water protectors…
Oceti Sakowin, ND – At approximately 3 a.m. November 16th, 2016, independent media makers from Digital Smoke Signals spotted a horizontal drill at the highly militarized drill site next to the Missouri River.
This sighting comes two days after the Army Corps statement made on…
Mandan, ND – Early Tuesday morning, a caravan of dozens of water protectors left the Oceti Sakowin encampment and drove to a Dakota Access Pipeline site on the outskirts of Mandan that served as a “man camp” and equipment yard.
The demonstration had a message…
Washington, DC – On Monday, November 14, the Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement that “additional discussion and analysis” was “warranted” before they could grant an easement needed by Dakota Access Pipeline to start construction on land near Lake Oahe.
UPDATE: Army Corps…
Boone, IA – On Thursday, November 10th, 2016, three water protectors from Iowa’s “Mississippi Stand” occupied the inside of the Dakota Access Pipeline to stop construction at their bore site near the Des Moines River.
3 water protectors are occupying inside of DAPL pipeline. DAPL…
Bismarck, ND – On Monday morning, hundreds of water protectors began a day of action by departing in four different caravans, corresponding to the four directions, to hold actions and demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
One group of water protectors entered a pipeline easement…