Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network explains the details behind the incidents on Saturday and Sunday at Standing Rock, in which Dakota Access bulldozed sacred graves and ceremonial sites. Apparently the holiday weekend was chosen so that the sites, which were in the direct path of the pipeline, could be destroyed before the business week when an injunction could have been forthcoming.

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This is Talibah Begay's video update on the activities at Standing Rock, an interview with Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network. Talibah is a Navajo singer and teacher from New Mexico who is camped out at Standing Rock.

In the video, Dallas explains the details behind the incidents on Saturday and Sunday at Standing Rock:

A previously unknown sacred site and burial ground was just discovered, and determined to be a significant example, as well as one of the largest finds in the upper midwest. It included ceremonial sites and gravesites, and was in the direct path of the pipeline.

So, on Friday paperwork was filed in Washington DC to ask for an injunction to be granted because of this newly discovered and significant site. This would require state officials to go to the site to do an official survey. If this site was determined by state officials to be a significant cultural site, this could cause delay or cancellation of the pipeline.

On Saturday, Dakota Access stopped their pipeline construction 15 miles away, and brought their bulldozers to the area of the cultural site. They plowed through two miles of land, apparently purposefully destroying all remnants of the cultural site on a holiday weekend, therefore circumventing the request for an injunction before it could go through proper channels.

Of course the Native Americans were horrified at this terrorizing turn of events and moved forward to try to protect the sacred land.

Clearly, Dakota Access had planned ahead, and had a security force onsite that maced the front line of unarmed protesters, which included women and children.

The security force also had attack dogs. Goldtooth notes that it was apparent that it was an untrained or poorly trained canine unit, as one of the workers was bit by his own dog, and then let go of the leash, allowing dog to run loose into the crowd of men, women and children, where it bit several people and a horse.

There is a strong sense that this was done on purpose, to remove evidence of the site before it could be documented, and to try to prove the false narrative that the peaceful protesters are actually violent.

Donations can be made to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe via Paypal or credit card.

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#standwithstandingrock

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Meryl Ann Butler is an award-winning artist, author, educator, and Managing Editor of OpEdNews, where her articles and other contributions have received more than 4.5 million views. She has written for OpEdNews since 2004 and has been Managing Editor since 2013. In 2015, her work on OpEdNews passed one million views with her article about Bree Newsome's removal of a Confederate flag; she was delighted that this particular story carried her across her first million-view milestone. Her article topics range from art, creativity, spirituality, women's issues, and feminine empowerment to politics, social justice, and the occasional irresistible absurdity. Her popular Art & Creativity series includes nearly 200 articles and has received more than half a million views. Butler has been creating and teaching art for many decades. Her artwork, in a wide variety of media, is in collections around the world. She is the author of two quilting books, including a niche-market bestseller. Her adventures have included two trips to the former USSR as a citizen diplomat, where she spoke in Moscow and Odessa and met with artists, craftspeople, and fashion designers about using the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. In 1987-88, she created the historic First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project with a school in Odessa, an exchange that brought the first reciprocal quilt from the former USSR to the United States. Butler's assorted roles have included journalist, international workshop facilitator and speaker, labyrinth designer and builder, founding member of The Labyrinth Society, entrepreneur, Renaissance woman, proud gramma and, on one memorable occasion, unexpected babycatcher, when the midwife was stuck in traffic. Interviews & Features Media appearances include an interview about her Near Death Experience and how it influenced her art on the JeffMara Podcast, with over 17,000 views. Her YouTube channel, @Merylannb, features "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy," "The Art of Creating Wellbeing Amidst Chaos (Art vs. Tyranny)," and "How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler," which has over 79,000 views.