Tearful Father of Injured Jewish Standing Rock Protester

Some people participate in direct actions- peaceful protests near the path of the pipeline.

The protests have garnered the attention of several celebrities, two of which – Jane Fonda and Shailene Woodley – will be at the Standing Rock reservation Thursday to help serve Thanksgiving dinner to about 2,000 protesters. The bridge has been blocked by burned out trucks, wire and concrete barriers since late October, when activists tried to set up a second protest camp on nearby private property.

Organizers of the group calling themselves “Veterans Stand for Standing Rock” are urging other veterans to join them in forming what they are describing as a “peaceful, unarmed militia” at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation for three days, beginning on December 4.

The CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind Dakota Access Pipeline, wrote in an internal memo to staff in September that “concerns about the pipeline’s impact on the local water supply are unfounded”, and that “multiple archaeological studies conducted with state historic preservation offices found no sacred items along the route”.

Upon further investigation law enforcement says they recovered a punctured one pound propane cylinder, glass jars, and rocks – which they say are commonly used to make molotov cocktails.

North Dakota officials asked Ohio Gov. John Kasich for assistance under terms of an interstate compact.

North Dakota officials may need to borrow more money to police protests, with costs exceeding the $10 million in emergency spending authorized by the state.

Wayne Wilansky said during a press conference outside a Minneapolis hospital that his 21-year-old daughter Sophia was wounded in a concussion grenade blast that “blew the bone out of her arm”.

It’s been a traumatic few days for the group of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters (or “water protectors”, as they call themselves) trying to hold off police from breaking up their protest camp in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

“They threw a grenade right at her, and the grenade exploded right in her arm”, Her dad Wayne Wilansky said.

A spokeswoman for the Morton County, North Dakota, Sheriff’s Department told The Los Angeles Times that police didn’t use concussion grenades during the confrontation.

North Dakota’s state crime bureau and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating.

A group of 12 leaders of color, led by Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon Executive Director Rev. Joseph Santos-Lyons, drove three vehicle loads of supplies to activists who oppose the North Dakota Access Pipeline.

Demonstrators have been occupying privately-owned land in the path of the pipeline, claiming that they are the land’s rightful owners under an 1851 treaty with the U.S. Government.

“There’s just no words, being a parent and looking at your kids, looking at her arm that’s not there”.

The crossing is the final large segment of the $3.8 billion pipeline, which will carry North Dakota oil to IL.

Those who are interested in reaching out to Standing Rock protesters can go to standingrock.org.