Inside the Standoff Between Law Enforcement and Standing Rock Pipeline Demonstrators

“This has become bigger than a pipeline fight. This is a fight to take back America.”

These are the words of one water protector, as they describe themselves, Sunday night about one of the most violent police responses yet to demonstrators protesting construction on the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota.

Throughout that night, #NoDAPL demonstrators were maced, hit with rubber bullets, and sprayed with water during sub-freezing temperatures.

Hive Swarm Independent Media captured the sights and sounds of the violence. The brutal action by law enforcement left hundreds injured and allegedly injured one demonstrator so badly that she almost lost an arm.

Yet, despite the horrifying standoff, demonstrators remained hopeful. “I got shot, I got maced — I don’t care,” one said.

A medic at the Standing Rock medical tent near the action said law enforcement was using unnecessary force against demonstrators. “What I see makes me very angry,” he said.

“It’s inhumane,” he continued. “It pretty much is war right now, except it’s one-sided, where people aren’t doing anything, but they’re being attacked. It’s not war, it’s an attack. But they’re treating it like war.”

Watch the video below:

Watch a second video, with additional footage of Sunday’s clash, below:

—Posted by Emma Niles