Protesters near Standing Rock, North Dakota allege police officers monitoring protests over the Dakota Access pipeline marked hundreds of demonstrators with numbers and held them in dog kennels after they were detained.
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At least 141 people were taken into custody last week after authorities cleared a camp of protesters in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, the LA Times reported. Multiple reports on social media depict protesters showing off black-inked numbers on their arms, drawing comparisons to Natzi-era concentration camps.
“It goes back to concentration camp days,” protest co-ordinator Mekasi Camp-Horinek told the LA Times. Camp-Horinek said he was arrested alongside his mother and thrown in a metal dog cage that had no bedding or furniture.
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Reuters reporter Timothy McLaughlin shared a picture of the so-called dog kennels that acted as holding cells for arrested protesters. However, according to the Washington Post, the holding cells are approved by the North Dakota Department of Corrections and allow prisoners access to bathrooms, meals and drinking water.
The Dakota Access pipeline is set to stretch from North Dakota through to Illinois, passing through four states and 50 counties, transporting approximately 450,000 barrels of crude a day.
A months-long protest has been waged against the pipeline, with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at the heart of the fight. The tribe says the pipeline will desecrate sacred land and potentially contaminate water supplies.
READ MORE: Standing Rock standoff: Judge denies tribe’s request to stop construction
The protests have swelled into a movement, with high-profile support. Actor Shailene Woodley livestreamed her arrest at the pipeline, and was charged with trespassing. She later revealed she was strip searched after her arrest.
But these protests have become increasingly heated. Last week, after protesters attempted to set up a camp on private property, authorities used rubber bullets, pepper spray and an audio cannon to disperse demonstrators. Some protesters reportedly set fires along the road and threw Molotov cocktails at police. One protester was charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement agent, after firing three bullets at officers trying at arrest her.
— With files from Tania Kohut and Reuters