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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 Kromagv0 on Wednesday November 23 2016, @08:21PM

    by Kromagv0 (1825) on Wednesday November 23 2016, @08:21PM (#432066) Homepage

    Actually in at least one case [foxnews.com] it appears to have worked out fairly well [lacrossetribune.com].

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  • (Score: 2) by jcross on Wednesday November 23 2016, @11:12PM

    by jcross (4009) on Wednesday November 23 2016, @11:12PM (#432197)

    I'm not sure I would call that working out well exactly, and to the extent that it did there was a lot of luck involved. If you were offering people the option of getting paid $600,000 to let someone invade their home and shoot 22 bullets at their family, I would hope most sane people would decline, but what do I know?

    But to an extent I think you're right, in that if no shots had been fired I suspect it would've been less likely for the family to get compensation for their broken door and the trauma of a home invasion, and the officers may not have been suspended because "no harm done".