Oil and Water

From the moment indigenous protesters gathered to resist the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, they faced heavy-handed tactics from law enforcement and private security hired by the pipeline company. As the protests grew, so did the campaign to surveil and repress them. Here is a timeline of events as they unfolded based on The Intercept’s original reporting.

2016

April 1

Pipeline opponents establish Sacred Stone Camp

Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people ride on horseback to a small campsite at the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers, declaring opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline and promising to protect the water.

September 3

DAPL security guards attack water protectors with dogs

Water protectors are surprised to find construction in progress at a location recently identified by a Standing Rock Sioux expert as containing ancestral burial sites.

Tim Mentz declaration

Early September

Report

DAPL parent company hires TigerSwan to oversee security response to growing protests

Documents leaked by a contractor working for TigerSwan reveal that the private security firm targeted the NoDAPL movement in at least five states, using counterterrorism measures and collaborating with police.

October 3

“Exploitation of ongoing native versus non-native rifts, and tribal rifts between peaceful and violent elements is critical in our effort to delegitimize the anti-DAPL movement.”

— Situation report prepared by TigerSwan for its client Energy Transfer Partners.

Internal TigerSwan Situation Report 2016-10-03

October 13

“You claim you’re press; you don’t even have credentials.”

— Sheriff’s Deputy Dakota Foley of Lee County, Iowa, commenting on the arrest of a reporter for Unicorn Riot. Journalists are repeatedly swept up in mass arrests throughout the fall.

October 22

Police strike demonstrators with batons and pepper spray, arresting 124

October 25

Report

Federal Aviation Administration enacts no-fly zone

Indigenous drone pilots are forced to ground their cameras, while police continue to use DAPL aircraft to surveil water protectors. The resulting footage will be introduced as evidence to support federal felony charges against pipeline opponents.

October 27

Report

Law enforcement descends on Standing Rock, changing the DAPL fight forever

Hundreds of law enforcement personnel attack the Standing Rock Treaty Camp, forcibly evicting residents and arresting 142 people.

Report

An activist stands accused of firing a gun at Standing Rock. It belonged to her lover — an FBI informant.

Red Fawn Fallis’s case sheds light on federal law enforcement’s surveillance of the water protector movement and generations of indigenous activists.

November 20

Report

Sophia Wilansky is severely injured in violent confrontation with police on Backwater Bridge

As police spray nonviolent DAPL opponents with water hoses and rubber bullets, representatives of the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, North Dakota’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, and local law enforcement frantically exchange emails while monitoring the action in real time.

November 21

“I maybe could see pepper spray, maybe rubber bullets, maybe tear gas, but water cannons? That’s done to inflict deliberate, severe, life-threatening harm.”

— Jesse Lopez, a surgeon and volunteer with the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council.

Learn more

December 4

“The Army will not grant an easement to cross Lake Oahe at the proposed location.”

— Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army, announcing that construction will be halted pending the completion of an environmental impact statement. A blizzard engulfs resistance camps the next day, forcing many to evacuate.

Memorandum for commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

2017

January