Dakota Access Pipeline Protests (Standing Rock)
September 3, 2o16
Nationwide, especially North Dakota, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, South dakota, Iowa, ILlinois
Protesters gather near the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota on October 5, 2016, to oppose the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
An oil boom in North Dakota during the early 2010s compels oil companies to build a pipeline through four states. Multiple Indigenous tribes oppose and protest the project, citing it as a threat to water and sacred sites on their sovereign lands.
On this day in 2016, workers begin bulldozing land sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Protesters gather and are attacked with pepper spray and dogs when they breach a fence.
An encampment of thousands grows on the pipeline’s path. Over seven months, protestors block roads and bridges, and lock themselves to construction equipment. Over 800 people are arrested.
Militarized police use tear gas and water cannons on protesters in freezing weather and finally disperse the camp in February 2017.
Today, the pipeline is fully operational.