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Posted by NDNCollective on Tuesday, July 7, 2020
The team’s conversations with sheriff and other local officers in advance of the direct action aimed to assure law enforcement that no use of force would be necessary as plans were for peaceful assembly; if outside armed reinforcements had not arrived, the road would have been cleared in half the time, Ellison observed. “Some of the over-reaction we were seeing was just a tip-off for the Keystone XL Pipeline,” he said, referring to fears that the state will repress civil rights of native oil pipeline fighters, such as Tilsen, if building continues. Eventually, from somewhere near one of several formations of camouflage-suited and shield-carrying troopers, a loudspeaker announcement warned four times, “This is an unlawful assembly. Disperse immediately.” Verbal retorts ensued: “You are unlawful. Why don’t you disperse?” After many demonstrators avoided arrest by clearing out, ranks of uniformed agents advanced on the remaining targets and zip-tied their hands behind their backs, taking them into custody -- all to taunts of “You stole this land” but no resistance. A transport van escorted at least a dozen detainees from there to the Pennington County office complex for booking and jail. They were released on July 4, except for Tilsen, who was held until his bond hearing July 6. Tilsen was released on $2,000 cash bond to face criminal charges of second-degree robbery, which carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence, and simple assault of a law enforcement officer, which carries a maximum two-year sentence. He also faces a misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and impeding traffic, which have one-year maximum jail penalty, as well as petty misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, with a maximum 30-day sentence.20+ people total have been arrested (~30 minutes ago, as well as a few hours earlier). We just took the stream down.
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) July 4, 2020
As police were withdrawing, they took with them a riot shield that had been redecorated by a demonstator to read "Land Back." pic.twitter.com/7cSqmaMV47
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