Protesters pushed back after mass arrests at North Dakota pipeline site – as it happened

Standing Rock youth have traveled to New York for a protest at the Brooklyn headquarters of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton – on the same day that police in North Dakota have closed in on the oil pipeline demonstrators, launching a tense standoff that has dragged on for hours.

Young activists from Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires and the Standing Rock Sioux Nation demanded that the Democratic candidate speak out against the Dakota Access pipeline, according to Greenpeace, which helped coordinate the action.

The youth leaders also released a letter to Clinton, writing:

Now is the time to prove your commitment to both strong climate action and Indigenous sovereignty. Silence is not acceptable.

William Brownotter, 16, added in a statement, “By refusing to stand against DAPL, Hillary is putting our environment, wildlife, culture, and land at risk.”

Reports are coming in that police are deploying a sonic weapon called a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD.

This is a picture of the device taken on the scene, which appears to show an LRAD 500X mounted on top of the black vehicle:

The LRAD was designed as a messaging device to project sound over long distances, but they are also sometimes used for crowd control.

According the the manufacturers’ website:

LRAD fills the critical gap between the poor voice quality and limited broadcast range inherent in bullhorns and vehicle PA systems, and kinetic measures including water cannons, tear gas projectiles, rubber bullets, pepper balls, Tasers and flash bang grenades.

Also known as “sonic weapons”, LRADS are sometimes fitted to ships to repel attacks by pirates, but they are most often used by police.

LRADS were deployed during the clearances of Occupy protests in Oakland in 2011, and during the protests following the killing of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and the protests following the killing of Eric Garner by police in Staten Island, New York, the same year.

While the LRAD is designed to be non-lethal, at medium range it can cause extreme pain and at 15 meters or less it can cause permanent eardrum damage.

The Morton County sheriff’s office has released some fresh images from the ongoing standoff:

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• The $3.8bn Dakota Access pipeline, or DAPL, would transport fracked crude oil from the Bakken oil field to a refinery near Chicago. Its route takes it across the Missouri river just above the Standing Rock Lakota Sioux Nation reservation, which tribal members say threatens their water supply and sacred sites.
  
• Protests began in April, when dozens of members of the Standing Rock Lakota and other nations took to horseback to ride to the river’s edge and set up a “spiritual camp”, named Sacred Stone.
  
• Since then, the number of protesters has swelled into thousands, with members of more than 90 nations and tribes joining to show their solidarity by August.
  
• In September, a federal judge denied an attempt by tribal leaders to challenge the legitimacy of the pipe’s construction permits.
  
• Police have made more than 260 arrests since the demonstrations ramped up in August, and prosecutors have filed a range of charges, including criminal trespass, participating in a riot and resisting arrest. 120 people were arrested last weekend alone.
  
• The mass arrests came days after a local judge rejected controversial riot charges against Amy Goodman, a broadcast journalist and the host of Democracy Now! who earned support from free speech advocates across the US after authorities issued a warrant for her arrest in September.
  

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• Dakota Access, the company constructing the pipeline, also employs private security to protect their construction sites, who could face criminal charges for setting dogs on protesters.
  
• Actor Shailene Woodley was also arrested at the protest, and actor Mark Ruffalo and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson also traveled to the pipeline protest this week.
  

On the live Facebook feed of Atsa E’sha Hoferer, an officer just shouted: “You will be arrested. You have to come down now.”

The protester’s footage shows police are lined up and have large military-style vehicles. The Associated Press reports that the operation involves dozens of officers in riot gear, some armed, and that police have brought out trucks, police cars, military Humvees and buses. Law enforcement are also using at least two helicopters and a fixed-wing airplane to monitor the demonstration.

“We’re here to make sure this water is protected at all times,” Hoferer shouted on the live-stream, telling thousands of viewers, “If this is law enforcement from your county, tell them to go home. They are protecting the corporate greed here.”

A spokesperson for the Morton County sheriff’s department, who are the lead agency on the ground, just told the Guardian that they have officers on the scene from “across the state” and that they have put out a request for assistance from out-of-state police departments.

She also said that there were national guard on the scene but added that “they are in a support role”.

Asked if any other agencies - local, state, or federal - were currently taking an active role, she declined to comment.

27 Oct 201614.57 EDT

Standing Rock member: 'We are standing up'

Sam Levin

Dean Dedman Jr, a member of the Standing Rock Hunkpapa tribe from South Dakota, just told the Guardian by phone that protesters are not backing down even in the face of hundreds of armed police officers.

“We are standing up. We are still here,” said Dedman, who has been camped out for months and frequently shoots footage of the actions with his drone. “We’re all just trying to keep the prayer and keep the singing.”

Dedman, who has also contributed video footage for the Guardian, said that a creek was providing some kind of a buffer for protesters but that officers were armed and getting closer. “They keep coming up.”

Dedman said the protesters suspect that police could soon attempt to make more arrests but added, “We’ve been prepared for all these months and all these years.”

Here’s a Guardian video from Dedman and other film-makers on site from the summer:

Morton County sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has released a statement claiming that authorities are targeting “illegal roadblocks and protesters trespassing on private property”:

Protesters’ escalated unlawful behavior this weekend by setting up illegal roadblocks, trespassing onto private property and establishing an encampment, has forced law enforcement to respond at this time. As I said yesterday, I visited the protesters roadblock and requested them to remove the barricade and have protesters vacate the private property.

Kirchmeier claims that “numerous teepees, tents and other structures have been built on the private property since Sunday”.

Law enforcement from across North Dakota and from outside of the state are now supporting Morton County “in this mission”, he added.

On one live feed, a police official just said: “You need to back away. We’re going to come forward. We don’t want to arrest any one of you.”

Tribal leaders and protesters have repeatedly emphasized that they are unarmed and peaceful and plan to stand their ground in an effort to stop a project that they believe could cause significant environmental damage to the local lands.

Here are some fresh tweets and images from the scene where protesters have tried to set up barricades as law enforcement gets closer to the camps.

Film-makers and activists recently told the Guardian that law enforcement’s response has become over-militarized and aggressive, with police deploying batons and pepper spray against peaceful protesters and indiscriminately arresting demonstrators and journalists.

Local authorities have claimed that the protesters are dangerous and engaged in riots on private land.

Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the increasingly tense protests of the Dakota Access pipeline, where police have announced that they are closing in on the Standing Rock Sioux tribe activists and their supporters.

Police officials just announced that they plan to “take necessary steps to move trespassers from private property”, and reports and live video feeds from Cannon Ball, North Dakota, reveal a volatile standoff between activists opposing construction of the $3.7bn oil pipeline and police who have accused the demonstrators of criminal activity.

The tribe and Native American advocates from across the US have for months camped out at the site in an effort to block a planned oil pipeline, which is operated by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and on track to transport fracked crude from North Dakota to a refinery near Chicago.

Tribal leaders have argued that the project threatens the local water supply and could destroy sacred lands. The standoff comes days after the Morton County sheriff’s office launched mass arrests of protesters, journalists and film-makers.