Peaceful Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Face Felony Charges, Escalating Police ActionBy Nika Knight They came at us from our backside, armed with semi-automatic weapons, one water protecter reported as he was arrested Tuesday. After two water protectors attached themselves to equipment outside of Mandan, North Dakota, Tuesday, putting a halt to construction, 20 people were arrested by police brandishing machine gunsand in riot gearincluding medics, journalists, and legal advisors. And an additional 22people were reportedly arrested on Wednesday after three peoplerepeatedthe same peaceful actionat a second site west of Bismarck. The Morton County Sheriff Department on Wednesdayannounced(pdf) the felony charges and increased misdemeanor charges for several of the 20 protectors arrested this week.The felony charges were for reckless endangerment, and were handed down to the two people who attached themselves to construction equipment on Tuesday. The same county has also issued arrest warrants for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, for partaking in the protests, and toDemocracy Now!s Amy Goodman for reporting on them. We are told it is our right to stand up if there is injustice in America, saidLaDonna Allard, Section 106 historic preservation officer for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, but when we do we are attacked as North Dakota spend[s] its dollars to protect an oil company rather than protecting the people from destruction of their lands and water. Where is the justice? A man was also arrested Wednesday morning solely for transporting water protectors: Officers say they saw the driver transporting protesters, the local sheriff wrote in a memo. During an inventory search of the vehicle, officers found paint and mechanisms protesters are using to attach themselves to construction equipment. Authorities have impounded the van. The driver was charged with conspiracy to commit obstruction of a government function. Indeed, this weeks escalating arrests and felony charges demonstrates that public law enforcement are perhaps no less on the side of industry than the pipeline companys own private security firm, which made headlines when itused attack dogsagainst peaceful water protectors last week, observers argue. And its not only the local police who appear staunchly on the side of corporate power: the National Guard has also beenoperatinga military checkpoint on the outskirts of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, since North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple activated the guard last week. The Pipeline, which the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fear will contaminate their sole source of clean drinking water where it crosses the Missouri River, has emerged as a pivotal battleground against Big Oil as Indigenous people from as far away as the Amazon have joined the Standing Rock Sioux in solidarity. Construction on the Pipeline is continuing onat least two sitesin North Dakota, despite the Obama administrations request that the pipeline company suspend activities. Meanwhile, investigative journalist Steve Horn revealed this week that an industry front group appears to be engaged in a subversive social media attack against the water protectors. Despite the onslaught against them, the Indigenous people and their allies remain undaunted in their fight. This was an absurd and overzealous usage of force by North Dakota law enforcement,saidDallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network after Wednesdays arrests.Such blatant disregard for the safety and legal rights of unarmed water protectors should not and will not go unnoticed. And yet, this inappropriate behavior by police will not deter our peaceful struggle to stop this pipeline. For far too long as Indigenous people, our rights, our water, and our land have been taken from us,saidone water protector who was filmed while attached to construction equipment on Wednesday. And were not going to stand for it no more. I know our ancestors are here with us, that they would want this to happen, the protectoradded. To everybody, everywhere: come stand with us. Lets stop this pipeline. Together as a people, we can stop anything that we put our minds toits a new day for Indigenous people. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Nika Knight is a staff writer for CommonDreams.org, where this article first appeared. Image Caption: Peaceful water protectors were arrested by police in riot gear and brandishing machine guns, and then were charged with feloniesbecause they temporarily stopped construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Photo: Unicorn Riot/Twitter) Peaceful? What horseshit! @Roger Young: Troll alert Money oil(GREED)..more important than water!!!!! 