CANNON BALL,
North Dakota (AFP) - Protesters camping near Native American lands in North
Dakota to resist the construction of an oil pipeline, clashed late Saturday
with construction company workers who they say destroyed ancient sites.
Hundreds of
protesters confronted a bulldozer crew in an area known as Cannon Ball, amid
the vast grasslands of the northern US state.
The Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe claims the crew dug up and destroyed sacred burial grounds,
places of prayer and other cultural artifacts - even after the pipeline
developer had voluntarily paused construction in the disputed area less than a
mile from the tribe's reservation.
Angry
protesters broke through a fence and fought with private security guards, who
employed dogs and pepper spray.
"They
tried to push us back with their trucks and their bulldozers, but we just kept
on coming," Seeyouma Nashcid, a protester from Arizona, told AFP.
Some
protesters were left bloodied, and displayed signs of dog bites. The Morton
County Sherriff's department said three private security guards were injured
after being struck with fence posts and flag poles.
The tribe,
whose reservation is located just south of where the 1200-mile
(1,900-kilometre) pipeline would cross the Missouri River, has been locked in a
court battle to stop the project, which it says would endanger its drinking
water and destroy historic sites.
Members of
American Indian tribes from across the US have rallied in support, gathering
for months in a make-shift camp near the reservation.
On Saturday,
protesters were suddenly alerted to renewed digging, a day after the tribe
filed evidence in court of dozens of newly-discovered artifacts, grave markers
and sacred sites.
The tribe
said in a statement that a two-mile stretch was destroyed before the bulldozer
crew was confronted and stopped.
"This
demolition is devastating," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman David
Archambault said in a statement. "These grounds are the resting places of
our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be
replaced." Witnesses said law enforcement officers were nearby during
Saturday's clashes but did not immediately intervene. But sheriff's spokeswoman
Donnell Preskey said deputies "were not on the scene when the conflict
initially occurred," and arrived later.
A federal
judge is expected to decide by September 9 whether to grant a temporary injunction
to stop the pipeline construction under the river, as the tribe pursues its
lawsuit.
The
pipeline's developer Energy Transfer Partners did not return a call for comment
placed during a holiday weekend. LINK
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