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posted by on Wednesday November 23 2016, @03:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the as-not-seen-on-tv dept.

Authorities used rubber-coated steel bullets, concussion grenades, tear gas, and water cannons against unarmed protesters near the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 26°F (-3°C) temperatures over the weekend.

Indian Country Today reports

"We have seen four gunshot wounds, three of them to the face and head", said Leland Brenholt, a volunteer medic.

[...]400 protesters, or "water protectors", attempted to dismantle a police-enforced barricade on State Highway 1806.

[...]"Water protectors are done with the military-style barricades. We are done with the floodlights and the armored military trucks. We are are done with it!" declared organizer, Dallas Goldtooth in a mid-evening Facebook post.

Their action was met with the same militarized response that the Morton County Sheriff's Department has demonstrated on protesters for weeks: the use of armored trucks, less-than-lethal ammunition, tear-gas, mace, and on this below-freezing night, water cannons.

[...]Reports from a coalition of advocacy groups near Standing Rock report hundreds of water protectors were receiving treatment for contamination by tear gas, hypothermia, and blunt traumas as a result of rubber bullets. One person, an elder, was reportedly revived after suffering cardiac arrest, organizers said.

"As medical professionals, we are concerned for the real risk of loss of life due to severe hypothermia under these conditions," read a statement from the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council.

A more measured take is available from the AP.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @05:04PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @05:04PM (#431922)

    And get charged for armed rebellion ... at best, or get sniped down with full-metal-jacket bullets, most likely.

    You don't fight a prevailing force head on, never.

    Don't ever respond with violence against their enforcers, even though they are provoking you to with their bestiality, because if they succeed in making you murderers, then you lose, big time.

    If you have an important cause and you have numbers on your side, you fight guerrilla style, avoiding direct confrontation and going for the maximum damage to your enemies, in this case oil company, interest.

    Think of a strategy to sabotage their operation along the long stretching route of the pipeline, where no police force or hired guards can always control every point, and keep doing it persistently until they give up or come to negotiations table.

    Learn from history, resistance movements of WWII Europe, and others. When you are under attack in your own land, basically it means you are under occupation, no matter that aggressors are your own compatriots.

    Keep close tabs on any enemy patrols movement, constantly do recon on police or any unknown vehicles or persons, and don't ever let any activist get captured!
    Keep the thugs on the tips of their toes: scare, false threats, disinformation, is as important as actual sabotage, because it grinds them down and dulls their senses.
    But actual damage to company bottom line must be done, it is the only way they feel pain.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday November 23 2016, @05:11PM

    by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Wednesday November 23 2016, @05:11PM (#431930) Journal

    > Think of a strategy to sabotage their operation along the long stretching route of the pipeline, where no police force or hired guards can always control every point,

    So these protesters who don't want the oil pipeline because they are worried it will poison their land should sabotage the oil pipeline, spilling oil and poisoning the land. I think I see a flaw in this plan...

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday November 24 2016, @01:51AM

      by sjames (2882) on Thursday November 24 2016, @01:51AM (#432228) Journal

      Not all failures result in a leak.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:39AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:39AM (#432328)

      We are talking about pipeline being built. It carries no oil until it is completed and checked for leaks. Leaks cost money, especially large ones. Company should understand the reality of everything coexisting peacefully and in mutual accord, or not really existing for long.

  • (Score: 2) by iamjacksusername on Wednesday November 23 2016, @06:27PM

    by iamjacksusername (1479) on Wednesday November 23 2016, @06:27PM (#431990)

    The point is to increase the marginal cost of the government suppressing a protest. Right now, an unarmed protest can be put down with a fractional ratio of government personnel and resources to protestors. By protestors being armed, the ratio moves in the direction of 1:1. The government can only afford to put down a one-off Bundy occupation. But imagine 5, 10 or 20 protests like that around the country? The government would have to expend a lot of personnel and resources. Those resources have to come from somewhere and that somewhere is ultimately the people. The point is to increase the price of extraction beyond the value of what is being extracted. That is how change happens.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @07:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @07:54PM (#432051)

      increase the marginal cost of the government suppressing a protest

      Are you so young and ill-informed as to not be aware of Waco?
      The Feds burned down the complex with children in it then concocted a "suicide" story that Lamestream Media swallowed whole.

      ...and Ruby Ridge?
      There, a Fed fatally shot a woman in the head while she was holding an infant.
      All charges against the Feds were dismissed.

      Using weapons against the gov't is a losing strategy.
      With them getting the USA military's surplus weapons gratis, the cops have you outgunned and they have no qualms about using all of their weapons as soon as you fire a shot.

      The only chance protesters have is to get their story into the media.
      It is shameful that Lamestream Media isn't even slightly interested in this story.
      To get any kind of proper coverage, so far, you need to go to New Media.

      ...and even what made it to the S/N front page was heavily censored.
      "Coverage" (AKA an Establishment whitewash) was added by a "news" agency that wasn't even on the scene.
      Lamestream Media has been using words like "clash" and "confrontation" instead of "police assault" and "police attack".
      To get more of the story, read the Original Submission [soylentnews.org]

      ...and, as has been mentioned in the (meta)thread, all gov't officials with the power to do something are pro-dirty energy and are doing nothing to uphold the treaty that USA.gov signed.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @08:27PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @08:27PM (#432068)

        The S/N editor felt compelled to add "balance" to the story by including "coverage" by Lamestream Media (who weren't on the scene).
        Jim Naureckas of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org) has this to say about that:

        "Nothing to See Here" Headlines Conceal Police Violence at Dakota Access [commondreams.org]

        One almost gets the sense that editors writing headlines like these have enlisted themselves on the sheriff's team, waving spectators away with a "nothing to see here, folks".

        The Washington Post (11/21/16) got the news into the headline, but framed it from a police perspective: "Police Defend Use of Water Cannons on Dakota Access Protesters in Freezing Weather".

        AP's story mentions 17 injuries.
        Early reports from RESPONSIBLE reporters among the people on-scene said that injuries were over 200.
        The medics tending to the wounded have upgraded that figure to over 300 injured.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @08:59PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @08:59PM (#432104)

          And you felt the need to inflate the situation by promulgating "water cannon" for "water hose". Spraying water on people in that kind of weather is horrible. So is ratcheting up the rhetoric to gain sympathy and then blame the "lamestream media". Cripes, for a guy who railed on Trump so much, you sure learn from his shitty tactics.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @09:20PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @09:20PM (#432120)

            The term was used by numerous news outlets.
            It accuracely describes a high-pressure device used to throw large volumes of water for long distances.

            Used in freezing temperatures against people who are living rough, it is definitely a weapon with potential for health-altering consequences.
            The medics specifically mentioned hypothermia.

            I'm quite sure you wouldn't want it used against you under any circumstances (it has the potential to remove skin), especially while the temperatures are below freezing.

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]