VIDEO THREAD: Today activists occupied a Line 3 Pipeline construction site in Northern Minnesota, halting operations for the day.
Just before 5 pm, police from several departments came and began arrests, initially scuffling with protesters linking arms at the entrance.
The construction site had a giant fence around it with only two entrances, so police had some guards posted outside, but the group was basically kettled the moment police stepped in.
"You're all under arrest for trespassing on critical infrastructure" officers announced.
The next several arrests took place at the one other entrance to the Line 3 construction site.
Activists had erected several makeshift barricades, and officers arrested many (by my count, 16, but not precisely sure) activists as they dismantled part of the barricade.
Police pushed into the construction site and arrested activists, who linked arms.
Officers would generally take anyone who attempted to stay linked to their fellow activists onto the ground.
They skipped (for now) those who had chained themselves to equipment.
Police arrested then a medic. He hadn't been linking arms or attaching himself to equipment etc.
When he explained that he'd a medic, an officer told him "nope, we have medics here" before they handcuffed him and removed his gear.
As police arrested the next two people, an officer told press to step back, so the dialogue was hard to hear.
One (or possibly both) of the arrestees identified themselves as press but were arrested because they lacked credentials and were told it'd be "sorted out" later.
Having skipped the areas where activists were physically chained to equipment, police arrested activists crossing arms at the base of a wheel loader (two whose hands were chained to the equipment were ignored for then).
One expressed pain and struggled as she was forced to walk.
Cop: "Are you guys gonna get down?"
Four protesters on top of wheel loader: "We shut shit down!"
Officer put a ladder next to them and said "If you ever feel free to come down, we'll leave the ladder there, and then just come down and we'll go through the rest of the process."
When only the activists chained to equipment (and some sitting atop tall objects) remained at the Line 3 Pipeline construction site, officers approached press and said press would need to leave or be arrested.
The six remaining journalists (including me) then left.
Here is my full @N2Sreports video summary of the confrontation between several police agencies and the protesters occupying the #Line3 construction site.
As always, all footage is available to license.
#Stopline3 #TreatyPeopleGathering #HonorTheTreaties
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