This
is part three of a nine part series will illuminating the FAA’s
complacency and the role the FAA’s concession played in the
violence against Water Protectors. A listing of the other eight
articles is at the bottom of this article.
Water
Protectors attempted to remove a barricade on Back Water Bridge which
had been present since the day of the raid on the Sacred Ground Camp
on October 27th. The barricade was made half by Water Protectors and
half by police.
Sacred
Ground camp was north of Backwater Bridge on contested land; DAPL and
the Sheriff calling it DAPL land, and the Water Protectors calling it
Standing Rock Sioux land under the 1851 Treaty. The police designated
the residents of Sacred Ground trespassers and set to take the land
back from the Water Protectors.
Hundreds
of police descended on the small camp, with armored vehicles, tasers,
tear gas, pepper spray, and LRADs. They formed a line across Highway
1806, spread from pasture fence to pasture fence on either side of
the road. As they moved forward to the opening of camp, they spread
out to cover the entire length of camp.
They pushed the group past Sacred Ground – the trespass campsite – and continued south toward all of the other camps. They made a promise to not push past County Road 134 but after getting there, they continued to advance – pushing south toward the other camps.
Water
Protectors set up a barricade on Back Water Bridge, about half way
between County Road 134 and Oceti Sakowin Camp – the largest of the
Water Protector camps.
The
barricade consisted of four obstacles; a row of wood three feet high,
an industrial trailer light up street sign, another stack of wood and
a car. The wood and the car were set on fire.
After
hours of tear gas, concussion grenades, mace, pepper spray, rubber
bullets, and bean bags, the police retreated, leaving two large army
trucks behind.
The
army trucks were set on fire.
After
the fires were out, days after the raid, the police set up a concrete
and razor wire barricade behind the trucks claiming the bridge may be
unsafe to travel on due to the damage to the bridge. Law enforcement
used the potential weight of cars and potential un-safety of the
bridge to justify the closure but they put thousands of pounds of
concrete road dividers on the bridge. In January, the North Dakota
Department of Transportation determined the bridge is structurally
sound and only needed to be resurfaced. In response, the governor
said he would not reopen the bridge or resurface it until federal
agents were in the camp and order was restored.
The
blockade fully stops traffic on Highway 1806, making the drive time
to the nearest trauma hospital up to 45 minutes longer.
On
November 20, some Water Protectors attempted to clear the bridge.
They
successfully removed one Army truck before the action exploded in
police violence. Over three hundred people were injured when police
turned water hoses on the Water Protectors.
Drones
buzzed above the action at Back Water Bridge, covering the action
from above.
Police
turned their hoses toward the drones, in an attempt to shoot them out
of the sky with water.
A
no fly zone had not been called and the sky was free of helicopters.
The drones were flying well above the action.
In
the days after Backwater Bridge Encounter, the drone footage
disproved police assertions that they only sprayed at fires started
by Water Protectors. It showed the full scope of the use of the
hoses, including a full overhead view of the police hosing down
hundreds of people with no fires in sight.
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