DAPL Protests Reach Reno
DAPL Protests Reach Reno
16 November 2016
RENO, Nev. – Dozens of protestors gathered in front of Clifton Young Federal Building to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline. The $3.8 billion pipeline would run under the Missouri reservoir that provides drinking water to the Rock Sioux tribe, and it would disturb lands that are sacred to the tribe. The protest was part of a larger trend of opponents of the pipeline due to its potential dangers and climate impact.
Hundreds of protestors, who call themselves “Water Protectors” have camped out at Standing Rock near the construction site of the pipeline. They have faced violence from militarized police, including chemical weapons like tear gas grenades and water cannons being used in freezing temperatures, as well as sponge rounds, bean bag rounds, stinger rounds, pepper spray, Mace, Tasers and a sound weapon. The explosive teargas grenades in use at Standing Rock have been banned by some US law enforcement agencies because they indiscriminately spray people.
Many journalists have been blocked by police from covering the protests. Dozens of protestors have been hospitalized and hundreds of others injured. North Dakota law enforcement has repeatedly release false or misleading statements about tactics used against protestors, only to have video evidence force them to concede the truth.
Anger about both the pipeline and treatment of Water Protectors in North Dakota have led to the spread of protests across the country, including this one in Reno, Nevada. The Reno protest went forward peacefully and with no police intervention or counter protests.
Photographer based in Munich, Germany