DAPL Protesters Don’t Plan On Leaving

Protesters say they don’t plan on leaving after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said they will close the campsite by December 5th.
 
Isaac Weston, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe says indigenous people are the wardens of the land and the government can’t remove them.

Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network calls this “an atrocious example that colonization has not ended.”

Governor Jack Dalrymple supports the decision, but wants the federal government to help lead the effort.

Republican U.S. Senator John Hoeven says this step was necessary to protect the well-being of farmers, visitors and those living in the region.

Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp says she’s wanted this for a while.

“This is something I’ve been encouraging and had long conversations [about],” said Senator Heitkamp. “I think that the situation got to the point where so many of the folks especially at the Army Corps. understood that to allow people to stay there in the dead of winter is not a formula for success.”

She said the Corps of Engineers were incredibly patient with the protesters up to this point, and although protecting free speech is important, when laws are broken people need to be held accountable.