This past Sunday night here at Standing Rock reservation, I was witness to some of the most horrifying scenes I have seen in my life. I will be clear that I have never been in a war, and I don’t work in an emergency ward, but I can find no other way to describe what happened but inhumane cruelty and savage barbarism by the Morton County Police toward the Water Protectors at Standing Rock.
I have been at the reservation for three weeks, and I have been to probably at least a dozens actions and I have seen my share of rubber bullets and pepper spray deployed—and even got
beat up by DAPL leaving a big cut on the head— but this was by far the worst.
That night, at the time the action had begun, I was away from camp, as I am now in order to get an internet connection, as well as take a couple meetings regarding what is going on at Standing Rock. We noticed a livestream of what appeared to be water-canons firing at Water Protectors at Standing Rock— which was immediately shocking, knowing that the temperature was around 20 degrees, and the wind chills here make that feel so much more severe. Reports to get blankets were popping up on our feeds, and we knew there wasn’t a moment to spare, and rushed immediately to camp.
Arriving at the scene, the stand-off was taking place on the ND-1806 bridge adjacent to the Oceti Sakowin camp. The highway was filled at least a quarter mile, all the way up to the Rosebud camp which is located on the opposite side of Oceti Sakowin across the other river. Water protectors were trudging out wet and wrapped in blankets. Many had faces covered in milk of magnesia, which is administered to the eyes for being sprayed with mace or pepper spray. Everywhere, Water Protectors stood shivering filling the bridge as icy cold water rained down from a water canon on the other side of cement barriers and barbed wire.
The conflict began about an hour before I arrived on scene at 6pm— but really had been brewing since the barriers themselves went up. The bridge has been blockaded for a few weeks by two military trucks which sit abandoned and burned-out. Who set them ablaze initially is a matter which is disputed at camp, but the fact remains that they are a daily eye-sore. According to the conversation between
Mike of Lakota trucking and police which I filmed on Nov. 6th, the bridge was supposed to be cleared within the next couple days. And since the police weren’t taking care of it, Mike decided to bring down his semi tractor trailer truck and take care of it himself. Of course, the police wouldn’t allow him to. The following day, Mike came down again with his truck only to be met by militarized police who once again who told him to leave. From what I was told by witnesses on the scene, someone came down and moved one of the burned out trucks against the wishes of the police. With the level of casualties Sunday, it wasn’t the right time to ask, but by what I was told, the removal was conducted peacefully, and was nothing more than a member of the community removing some junk from the road.
(UPDATE: Mike confirmed today that he was the one in charge of the removal.)
It seems to be what provoked the hours-long onslaught by Morton County Sheriff’s department which consisted of a constant water canon which lasted for at least five hours of the six I was there. It slowed down as it was approaching midnight, but I am told that it was still being used off and on as late at 4 am. In addition to the hypothermia-causing barrage of icy water, I witnessed dozens and dozens of rounds of rubber bullets fired into the crowd. I saw one man who I’m acquainted with, (Shane), shot and go down with has hands held above his head, (on video). At one point, there were two people down on their knees in prayer or shot at point-blank range, (on video). Easily, there were over a hundred rubber bullets fired. There were tear gas canisters fired off and on through the night— often causing fires— which is what the police claim they were firing their water canons at. My video and many other tell a very different story. It was the flaming cans of tear-gas starting the fires, and water protectors can be heard to yell, “put it out, put it out,” (ALSO ON VIDEO).
From Angela Bibens: "Right now we’ve seen people who have been maced. They deployed 20 mace canisters in a small area in less than five minutes, to the point where people have lost bowel function. At least one seizure has been witnessed at the front lines by our legal observation team. There have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. The water cannon has been mixed with the mace, and so even our legal observers have been exposed and are trying to deal with that while they’re doing up their notes. And canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. There is at least one woman who has a broken kneecap. At least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through CPR at the front line by medics."
Bear in mind that rubber bullets are about the size of a golf ball and are fired from a gun not too different from a shot gun, and can do serious damage. And despite people being rushed away from being shot in the head, (which can be lethal), that wasn’t the worst. The worst was when a concussion grenade exploded, tearing open the arm of Sophia Wilansky, who is now at risk of amputation.
According to a GoFundMe posted by Michael Basillas:
Sophia Wilansky is a water protector from New York. She left New York City several weeks ago to help with the struggle at Standing Rock. She been an active participate and family to the activist groups NYC Shut It Down and Hoods4Justice. Sophia has always been committed to confronting injustice through vigilance and resistance.
Sophia was giving out bottles of water to protectors holding down the space when she was shot with a concussion grenade. This was the response of police and DAPL mercenaries as she and other brave protectors attempted to hold the line against the black snake in service of protecting our water. As of last night, we found out she was air lifted to County Medical Center in Minneapolis were she’s currently undergoing extensive, hours-long surgery from injuries sustained from the blast.
@RodWebber