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PHOTOS: The Final Hours Of A Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp

(Top) Police make arrests as they move through the Oceti Sakowin camp. (Bottom) The police moved steadily and slowly through the camp, accompanied by Humvees and maintaining a perimeter of the cleared area.
Angus Mordant for NPR
(Top) Police make arrests as they move through the Oceti Sakowin camp. (Bottom) The police moved steadily and slowly through the camp, accompanied by Humvees and maintaining a perimeter of the cleared area.

On Thursday morning, law enforcement entered the Oceti Sakowin camp to do a final sweep before officially shutting it down, ending a months-long protest against the completion of the nearby Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Oceti Sakowin camp was the largest of several temporary camps on the northern edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Protesters have been living on this land for months, in support of members of the Standing Rock Sioux.

Supporters have said that running the pipeline under under a part of the Missouri River known as Lake Oahe would jeopardize the primary water source for the reservation, and construction would damage sacred sites, violating tribal treaty rights. The river crossing is the last major piece of the pipeline that remains unfinished.

The North Dakota Joint Information Center reports that 46 people were arrested today. Others left the camp voluntarily throughout the day, according to a news release from the center. The arrests were nonviolent, though in several instances small groups of protestors stood peacefully in front of police lines until they were detained.

Protestors line up, arms linked, in peaceful protest as police enter the Oceti Sakowin camp on Thursday morning. All of the demonstrators were arrested.
/ Angus Mordant for NPR
/
Angus Mordant for NPR
Protestors line up, arms linked, in peaceful protest as police enter the Oceti Sakowin camp on Thursday morning. All of the demonstrators were arrested.

Lt. Tom Iverson of the North Dakota Highway Patrol said that 200 police officers were on site, with officers from various North Dakota agencies, and others from as far as Alabama, Wisconsin, and Indiana. A line of officers, prepped with riot gear and supported by about a dozen Humvees, made their way slowly through the camp as the day wore on, checking every standing shelter, and arresting the people who remained.

Citing flooding and safety concerns, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum had set Wednesday as the evacuation deadline for the camp, but after ten arrests and lengthy negotiations with protesters, police suspended the operation until this morning.

As part of the effort to encourage people to leave, the state sent a bus to the site to transport people to Bismarck, where officials had set up a transition center, and offered hotel and bus vouchers. The governor explained that those who left willingly would not face charges. However, after only nine people used the center on Wednesday, it was closed today due to lack of use, according to state Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong.

The Morton County Sheriff's department tweeted that camp was completely cleared by 2:09 p.m. local time, though afterward approximately 100 people stood on the opposite bank of the Cannonball River, singing and praying as police set up barricades to block off the site that had been the Oceti camp.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Police check tents one-by-one for remaining protestors.
/ Angus Mordant for NPR
/
Angus Mordant for NPR
Police check tents one-by-one for remaining protestors.
Protestors stand on the Cannonball River as police secure the northern bank after they cleared the Oceti Sakowin camp.
/ Angus Mordant for NPR
/
Angus Mordant for NPR
Protestors stand on the Cannonball River as police secure the northern bank after they cleared the Oceti Sakowin camp.
Protestors stand on the southern bank of the Cannonball River, on reservation land, as police secure the remainder of the Oceti Sakowin camp on the opposite bank.
/ Angus Mordant for NPR
/
Angus Mordant for NPR
Protestors stand on the southern bank of the Cannonball River, on reservation land, as police secure the remainder of the Oceti Sakowin camp on the opposite bank.

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Ariel Zambelich
Ariel Zambelich is an editor on NPR's award-winning Visuals Team, which collaborates with the newsroom to tell stories that create empathy through photojournalism, illustration, graphics, design, data reporting, and video journalism. She has covered major breaking news events, collaborated on international stories including climate change in India and war in Afghanistan, photographed high-profile figures like President Obama and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and contributed to long-term investigations about veterans' issues and the effects of mustard gas testing.
Angus Mordant