MINNEAPOLIS
State troopers attack Native sovereignty
At 4 a.m. on Dec. 20, over 600 Minnesota State Troopers and
local police laid seige to the Minnehaha Free State encampment
in Minneapolis. Thirty-three members of the American Indian
Movement, Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community and Earth First!
were arrested.
Several people suffered serious injuries during the police
assault. Some protesters were tortured with pepper spray. Items
held sacred by the Mendota Community were destroyed, in
violation of federal laws protecting Native religious
expression.
The encampment was set up in September, after Minnesota's
Department of Transportation refused to meet with Native and
community groups about the planned reroute of Highway 55. The
highway construction would threaten a Native burial ground and
cause serious environmental damage to the surrounding
working-class community.
Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson ordered the Dec. 20 police
attack on the encampment--the largest police mobilization in
Minnesota history. He toured the site while bulldozers plowed
over the 7-house encampment.
A rally to support the jailed activists was held Dec. 21.
More actions are plan ned, and organizers vowed to return to
the site to defend Native sovereignty.
--Greg Butterfield
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