For the second week in a row, water protectors with the movement to stop Line 3 shut down construction in more places than ever before. While attempting to protect the rivers from ongoing drilling, some water protectors were brutalized with chemical weapons and rubber bullets.
Last week,
- Water protectors from the Giniw Collective attempting to protect the Red Lake River from Enbridge drilling were giniw.
- On Monday, police re-arrested and brutalized water protectors who’d just been released outside of the Pennington County jail. Water protectors staying at the Red Lake Treaty Camp had gathered at the jail to meet the more than 20 people who were arrested the preceding Friday. After people were released, police brutally re-arrested a Red Lake Nation Tribal Member and two others.
- The RISE coalition and other water protectors exercised their treaty rights at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. On Wednesday, a White Earth tribal official delivered a cease and desist notice to Enbridge calling on them to stop work and allow Indigenous people to hold a water ceremony at the site. When Enbridge defied the work stoppage, water protectors continued to hold space. On Thursday, 7 were arrested for continuing that ceremony at the headwaters.
- Minnesota State House Representatives and Senators authored a letter to the MPCA, calling for more transparency and consistent reporting around drilling-related spills from Line 3 construction. So far, the public is aware of 9 accidental releases of drilling mud from Enbridge’s horizontal directional drilling (HDD), including several incidents at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. These spills, often called “frac-outs,” can seriously harm the health of water ecosystems.
- A group from Cheyene River and Standing Rock ran from North Dakota along the Line 3 pipeline route in a healing prayer run. They stopped at several Line 3 resistance camps, including Red Lake Treaty Camp, Camp Firelight at the headwaters of the Mississippi, and the camp where the Giniw Collective is based.
Resistance at the rivers is expected to continue in upcoming days.