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Standing Rock’s last stand

A wigwam burns on the eve of an Army Corp of Engineers eviction notice at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 21. The owner said, “it was made in ceremony and it will end that way. I’m not letting it get bulldozed.”

Amber Bracken
Cannon ball, north dakota
Special to The Globe and Mail

This article was published more than 7 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Since August, the Oceti Sakowin camp has stood on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property at the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. By Wednesday, as an eviction deadline passed, activists set off fireworks and ceremonially burned tents and other structures. On Thursday, dozens of armed law enforcement officials

swept through

the protest camp to arrest the remaining demonstrators. The site became a focal point for protesters, drawing 5,000 to 10,000 people at the height of the movement against plans to route the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the reservation. A Standing Rock Sioux member said closing the camp would not dampen determination. "You can't arrest a movement. You can't arrest a spiritual revolution." President Donald Trump has pushed for completion of the pipeline since he took office in January, signing an executive order that reversed an Obama administration decision and cleared the way for the $3.8-billion project to proceed. -

Reuters

Dawn Of A New Day prays as a wigwam burns on the eve of an Army Corp of Engineers eviction notice at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 21.

Elders lead people out of the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota in a ceremonial retreat ahead of a police enforced eviction February 22.

Police push people off the road after the deadline of an Army Corp of Engineers eviction notice at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 22.

A woman raises her fist as many people leave the Oceti Sakowin camp for the last time during the Army Corp of Engineers eviction at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 22.

People wait for police past the deadline of an Army Corp of Engineers eviction notice at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 22.

A protestor monitors clean up fires on the morning ahead of Army Corp of Engineers eviction at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 22.

The morning ahead of the Army Corp of Engineers eviction at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 22.

Elders lead people out of the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota in a ceremonial retreat ahead of a police enforced eviction February 22.

Fires burn at the DAPL resistance camps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota February 22.