Police arrested more than 100 people who were protesting the construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline in Northern Minnesota on Monday, an activist group confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.
Hubbard County police started to arrest protesters late Monday after some used a fishing boat, bamboo and a steel cable to block the pathway of the construction site, The New York Times reported. Other protesters climbed on top of diggers and transformers boxes, chaining themselves to the machinery.
“It’s tragic that 100-plus American citizens have to get arrested to stop a Canadian corporation from ravaging the north,” said Winona LaDuke, executive director of the Native conservation group Honor the Earth. “It’s a sorrowful day in Minnesota when a foreign corporation can finance repression, including the use yesterday of a federal helicopter to execute a dangerous and unnecessary tactical maneuver to everyone on the ground — and in the air! We hope that our Indigenous rights to exist are protected by the Biden administration.”
The newspaper reported that authorities appeared to use a sonic device known as an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) to disperse the crowd of protesters, and used bolt cutters to cut protesters loose from the machinery.
Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes said that authorities “arrested a lot of people,” adding “it’s up to them how long this gets drawn out,” the Times reported. The sheriff said that if space in the county jail runs out, protesters would be transferred to neighboring counties.
About 2,000 protesters gathered over the weekend to protest the $9 billion pipeline expansion by Canadian company Enbridge. The Line 3 pipeline would carry thousands of barrels of oil into Minnesota’s watersheds and tribal lands.
Actress Jane Fonda on Tuesday called on President Biden
Joe BidenBiden DOJ adopts Trump’s liability stance in E. Jean Carroll defamation suit Boston mayor fires city’s police commissioner months after domestic abuse allegations emerge Book claims Trump believed Democrats would replace Biden with Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama in 2020 election MORE and his administration to halt the construction of the pipeline, saying Biden hasn’t done “enough” on pipelines.
Actress @Janefonda calls on Biden to stop the construction of the Line 3 pipeline, adding that the President has “done a lot of very good things. But not enough. Not bold enough. And not fast enough.” pic.twitter.com/v3ANSHL39z
— New Day (@NewDay) June 8, 2021
The Hill has reached out to the sheriff’s office and Enbridge for further comment.
— Zack Budryk contributed.
Updated at 3:32 p.m.
