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from the peaceful-protest-vs-armed-protest dept.
Catholic Online reports
On Thursday [October 27], the Bundy gang of ranchers who took over a federal building in Oregon and led a 41-day standoff were acquitted on all charges. At least five of the seven surviving militia members will now walk free from federal custody as a result. Ammon Bundy will not be released however because he still faces charges in Nevada over the standoff at his father's ranch two years ago. His brother, Ryan Bundy also remains in custody. An eighth member of their gang was killed by police when the standoff drew to an end.
[...]The Bundy gang also staged their occupation on sacred Native American land. This cannot be condoned; it would be like legitimizing the armed takeover of a parish church.
[...]At the same time the Bundy gang was being acquitted, heavily armed paramilitary-police moved into the crowds at Cannonball, North Dakota gassing and arresting protesters. The key difference in this case is [that] the protesters in North Dakota are peaceful and unarmed.
[...] During Thursday's protest, a fire broke out at the site and police moved in with riot gear and military-grade armored vehicles. They attacked the crowd with tear gas, a sound cannon, batons, and bean-bag ammunition. Police are evicting the protesters by force to make way for the pipeline's construction. Protesters have built barricades to keep authorities at bay.
Peoples World continues
[Continues...]
Encampment at Standing Rock cleared; over 140 arrested
Police and those present at the #NoDAPL protest encampment yesterday say that protesters have been cleared from the northern camp along the Cannon Ball River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. News reports say over 140 people were arrested, and officers used pepper spray against protesters but no serious injuries were reported.
Beginning at 11:15 am MT [PDF], officers moved toward a group of people camping out near highway 1806 near the town of Cannon Ball, ND. According to the Associated Press, some of the officers were in riot gear, some were armed, and they arrived with soldiers driving trucks and military Humvees. They also deployed helicopters and an airplane that monitored them from above.
The Federal Aviation Administration began restricting flights over the area on Tuesday afternoon [October 25], and will continue to do so until Nov. 5, according to the FAA website, which cites "hazards" in the area.
The police operation came the day after the Morton County Sheriff's Department asked protesters to leave the land, [PDF] which is in the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline under construction.
Additionally, over the last several weeks, over 140 "water and land protectors", as those protesting the building of the Dakota Access oil pipeline call themselves, have been arrested during police raids. The mainstream media has remained relatively mum about the human rights violations that have been unfolding at Standing Rock, where the construction of the multi-billion dollar funded Dakota Access Pipeline is underway.
[...] Frustrations continue to rise as [a] media blackout continues.
[...] Many have voiced outrage over the selective coverage being given by the media to such a critical issue.
Last week, Energy Transfer Partners, the company constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline, voluntarily stopped work at the building site just North of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
The Army Corps of Engineers has confirmed that the company doesn't have a written easement from the agency to build on Corps property. A Corps spokesperson says that Energy Transfer Partners has filed the paperwork for the easement but it's still under review.
Previous Coverage:
Ammon & Ryan Bundy Arrested in Oregon; One Dead in Shootout with Cops
Militia Occupies Federal Building in Oregon After Rancher Arson Convictions
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fritsd on Sunday October 30 2016, @12:18PM
I don't know what causes the difference?
Is there a large political difference between the governments of Oregon and Dakota? The *decision* to send in police to convince the protestors to move away, is probably out of the judicial system.
But the choice and nature of the *amount of force used* in the clearing operation, is probably decided by the local executive government.
Bean bag ammunition is a very rough thing to use, people can easily lose an eye with that if they get it in their face.
If there is no clear political difference between those two states, and if it's not due to the way the protestors are armed (as tmb noticed), then I'd just generalize, and say that obviously, the USA government has a policy to harass protestors who want to defend its environment (in North Dakota), and on the other side of the petro-industry coin, it is extra lenient towards protestors who occupy a location significant for its religion and nature (in Oregon). Although the local government of Oregon should be congratulated at their success of ending the protest without violence.
So: native American religion unimportant, nature unimportant, post-Hubbard-peak oil pipeline important.
Conclusion: the USA government doesn't give 2 shits about its environment, and hasn't thought ahead a lot about the 21st century.
The USA government probably don't realize yet, that once you're far enough beyond Hubbard's peak, the location where the oil comes from is wherever the energy is cheapest (synthetic fuel or biogas-to-liquids), and where the energy is cheapest is more distributed around the country than before (property of renewable energy is that it's less centralized in large power plants). No need for oil pipelines anymore, ever. Better save that money for a beer pipeline [theguardian.com].
Gasoline burns to water vapour and CO2 in a chemical process. Ergo, you can reconstitute gasoline from sparkling water, you just need energy and the right catalysts and process steps [newscientist.com].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 30 2016, @04:02PM
Wait, what? What else would you call the killing of one of the Oregon/Malheur figureheads if not violence? Amusement [thementalmilitia.net]?
(Score: 2) by fritsd on Sunday October 30 2016, @04:43PM
You're right; I'm sorry. But you have to admit that it could have been much more than 1 casualty in that situation. Even in Europe we have heard of Waco Texas [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 30 2016, @05:05PM
Agreed, the death toll at Malheur could have been higher. There are any number of paths to take in further response, from the USian viewpoint that the initiation of force is violence even if it is from government agents (which then means that almost all the Malheur protesters have been victims of violence through arrest and trials backed by government guns), to the explaination that the US government is keenly aware of how heavily armed and alert swaths of the USian populace is of government tendancies to murder civilians. The latter is known to have produced a promise of "no more free Wacos", summed up by one militia leader from New Mexico, Bob Wright, when asked if he and his crew would show up at another FBI standoff if the feds started killing people: "why would I do that? There's plenty of you federal bastards around here."
The USA is unspeakably exposed to determined individuals wishing to do violence. Just a tiny sampling would include Christopher Dorner [wikipedia.org], the Beltway "Snipers" [wikipedia.org], Marvin Heemeyer [wikipedia.org], and Joe Stack [wikipedia.org]. Because of this, I think it sensible to attribute any "government leniency" to a fearful sense of self-preservation rather than any sort of morality or magnanimousity.