Tear gas fired at Dakota protesters

President-elect Donald Trump has not commented specifically on Dakota Access, but he has in the past been supportive of pipeline development. One officer was hit in the head.

A spokeswoman for the department, Maxine Herr, told the Los Angeles Times that police did not use any concussion grenades in Sunday night’s standoff.

Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler added, “It was effective”.

Another potential clash between Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters and law officers over a disputed bridge in southern North Dakota has eased.

In her statement, Heitkamp insisted that safety remains “of the utmost importance, and it’s imperative that it remain the top priority for all of those involved in these protests”.

He said the medics started campfires to warm people, handed out emergency blankets and organized warmer, “winterized” beds in camp for cold people to sleep.

Demonstrators said they wanted emergency services and local traffic to move freely again.

The Standing Rock Sioux argue the pipeline’s planned path under the Missouri River threatens their water supply and cultural sites.

On Monday Bernie Sanders threw his support behind the protestors, tweeting and posting video to his Facebook of the confrontation.

The proposed 1,886 kilometre pipeline is slated to pump about 500,000 barrels of oil per day from the Bakken shale fields in North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa to IL. The patrol provides security at the Capitol. He says members of the public who have legitimate business are being granted access by officers staffing the entrances. A group briefly blocked streets in the downtown area, and protesters later locked arms outside the police station and refused to leave. The bridge has been closed since October 27, when protesters burned vehicles as police pushed them away from the construction site.

Water Protectors used a semi-truck to remove two burnt military trucks from the road and were successful at removing one truck from the bridge before police began to attack Water Protectors with tear gas, water canons, mace, rubber bullets, and sound cannons. “Police continually assaulted demonstrators with up to three water cannons, in subfreezing temperatures, dipping to 22 degrees”. The statement came as protests grew more heated. Native Hawaiian Daniel Kanahele (kahn-uh-HEE’-lee) blew a conch shell to summon native spirits.

“It is below freezing right now and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department is using a water cannon on our people – that is an excessive and potentially deadly use of force”, said Goldtooth, as quoted by Reuters. Law enforcement responded by spraying the protesters with water and firing rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray into the crowd.

ETP has spoken out strongly against what it sees as unjustified intervention from the federal government and called the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to hold up the permits for the pipeline, “a reinforcement of the [Obama] Administration’s lack of interest in enforcing and abiding by the law”, according to Mother Jones.

On an analyst call Monday to discuss ETP’s merger with its sister company Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, officials said they still expect final approval for the pipeline by the end of this year.

The four-state pipeline, which runs a half-mile from the Standing Rock reservation at its closest point, is 84 percent complete.

The sheriff’s department said water cannons were brought in to control the crowds and extinguish fires set by protesters.

The Sunday protest – the latest in a string of demonstrations to take place against the $3.7 billion pipeline – saw protesters being trapped by authorities on a bridge at Highway 1806 in Morton County. There was one arrest in the first incident and 16 arrests in the second.

Wilansky was taken to a Minnesota hospital where she was sent to surgery, according to Goldtooth.