Driving by back home to pick up more firewood. We arrived at camp in time to hear a call for all women with children and the elderly to get to the school across the Cannonball River, word was the camp (Oceti Sakowin) was going to be raided. It wasn’t, but that’s because they were busy a bit to the northeast of camp, what was being called Turtle Island by all those at camp. More on this later, when I have more time. The unnecessary, cowardly actions taken by cops was very ugly to see. Protectors were being gassed and shot by cops who were mere feet away from them. (Rubber bullets, but one young man has already been hospitalized with bleeding from the lungs, thanks to one of those harmless bullets). It was a terrible shock to hear and see one of the cops raise his gun and fire into the protectors. Over one hundred cops were there, including snipers. Okay, off again, back home tomorrow. Click photos for full size.
All photos © C. Ford, all rights reserved.
fucking hell
chigau took the words out of my mouth.
The first package I sent to the camp included a dozen israeli-made gas masks. I’m sorry to hear they may be coming in handy.
Fucking armed cowards standing there shooting pepper spray at people that aren’t defending themselves. Gnnnrrrrr….
Fucking cowardly bastards. What danger or threat were the people in the water to them?
Baton rounds can be deadly, as was repeatedly demonstrated in Northern Ireland…
Oh, look, it’s Officer Pike! Still pepper-spraying everybody like he’s watering his tomatoes…
Who are they “protecting and serving”?
I read this was on Army land, where police have no jurisdiction, plus the river itself is neutral territory. Fuck those cops.
rq@#7:
Speaking of Army, wouldn’t it be fine to see those cops pepper spray a bunch of, you know, actual soldiers? They seem pretty tough against unarmed protestors. I wish they could get a bit of the Bruce Lee, “Boards don’t hit back.”
#6
They were protecting a 3-5 cent variation of the price per barrel of sweet light crude.
Marcus @6:
They are doing what police have been doing for centuries: protecting the monied class, protecting the property of the monied class, and helping the monied class get their slimy mitts on the property and money that belongs to anyone else.
I study and interpret labour history. The police, the national guard, the private security and detective companies, and the courts have, historically, taken a very dim view of anyone from an inferior class (which means, basically, everyone but the one percent) organizing for things like better pay, days off, health care, worker’s compensation, clean water, clean soil, clean air, safe dams, safe(r) working conditions, environmental regulations, safety regulations, etc, etc, etc. What is happening at Standing Rock is standard operating procedure — just look at the Great Railway Strike of 1875, the Pullman Strike, the UMW in the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania, the UMW in Idaho, the machinists strike of the 1920s, the long and sordid history of the wars of westward expansion, etc, etc, etc. Money is power. Power corrupts. Corruption kills. And the ones killed are not the powerful.
I am speechless.
I knew they would be doing this -- they always do -- but knowing make it any less horrible.
Parasites -- stealing their strength from the blood of the people. Under what authority do the cops say they are acting?
The naked power of the owner class.
Their goons happy beat up, to gas, to kill
those who stand in the way of their profits of today.
Let’s try again:
The naked power of the owner class.
Their goons happy to beat up, to gas, to kill
those who stand in the way of their profits of today.
Point blank rubber bullets? Well, I guess Native Americans are still the Palestinians of USA. And yes, rubber bullets kill, tear gas kills and snipers kill.
now that I’ve had a wee dram …
there is something bark-out-loud funny™ about modern, high-tech weapons
being defeated by rubbermaid lids and dollarstore bluetarps.
Marcus
“So you wanna be a soldier, eh?”
chigau
Just proves that it’s not the gadgetry that will win you the war. :)
That is fucking ridiculous. I didn’t think I could be more appalled during this. And to think hundreds of millions of white people will be celebrating Thanksgiving while this is going on and not realize that something can actually be done to “give thanks”.
And I feel like a complete fool for saying “be safe”. Holy shit.
Hi everyone! Safe, back home, a bit worn out. Fortunately, not shot. A reporter close by to us was shot.
Giliell:
One young man in the water had a very wet eagle feather. Never know when one of those is going to go off.
Dunc:
A good number of people have been hospitalized from being shot with those ‘less than lethal’ rounds, and cops did kill one horse in the destruction of the 1851 Treaty Camp, and another tried like hell to cripple another horse, shooting it repeatedly in the legs. One young man was shot point blank while on his horse, blown clean off. He’s in hospital now.
Marcus:
That was one of the chants: “who do you protect?, who do you serve?”
rq:
That’s right, this is ACE land, and the cops have no jurisdiction there.
Fledanow:
This was just the latest in many barbarous acts. The cops at the 1851 Treaty camp, holy fuck. There were at least a thousand there. As for authority, they have none, and don’t even bother to pretend they do.
Fucking fucking fucking hell.