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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.


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  • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday November 23 2016, @07:47PM

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Wednesday November 23 2016, @07:47PM (#432046)

    remember the four boxes:

    Soap box : use free speech and Protests to make your message heard and make a change.

    Ballot box: get laws passed or overturned.

    Jury box: take your cause to court.

    Ammo box: when all else fails make sure you can fight back against unjust laws/actions.

    this kind of response by the LEOs is them going straight to the ammo box.

    I find it sadly funny that when ever the government tries to limit/take away almost any Constitutional right everyone starts screaming about Free Speech, search warrants, etc., but then those same people support limiting or outright abolishing the Second amendment. The same one that is supposed to help protect all the other rights in the Constitution.

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  • (Score: 2) by dry on Thursday November 24 2016, @05:22AM

    by dry (223) on Thursday November 24 2016, @05:22AM (#432284) Journal

    The Native American peoples have had really shitty luck using the ammo box to defend their rights. Come to think of it, so have most of the minorities in the States. As long as the majority (actually about 1/3rd, with over a 1/3rd not caring) agrees that the government is in the right to blow away certain people who actually use their 2nd amendment rights, those rights are just an invitation to get shot.
    There has been very few, if any success stories of the ammo box being used against the powers that be.