John Henderson, district commander of the Army Corps of Engineers issued a letter to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe this week that serves as an official eviction notice for the Standing Rock camp.
According to the letter sent to Dave Archambault II, the Army Corps will be “closing the portion of the Corps-managed federal property north of the Cannonball River to all public use and access effective December 5, 2016.”
The letter also states that a “free speech zone has been established on the land south of the Cannonball River for anyone wishing to peaceably protest” but that “any person who chooses to stay on these Corps’ lands north of the Cannonball River does so at their own risk, and assumes any and all corresponding liabilities for their unlawful presence and occupation of such lands.”
The letter comes nearly two weeks about the Army Corps accounted that it would delay a decision on granting an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline parent company, Energy tTransfer Partners, until “additional discussion and analysis” can be conducted on the “importance of Lake Oahe to the tribe, our government-to-government relationship and the statute of governing easements through government property.”
Filmmaker Josh Fox fired back, stating:
“Army Corps has just written a letter demanding that the main Standing Rock resistance camp to the Dakota Access Pipeline be evacuated by December 5. This is a major act of aggression against basic rights of peaceful assembly and protest in the U.S. and constitutes a violation of treaties as well as the U.S. constitution’s guaranteed right to protest and assemble.”
The eviction date comes just one day after hundreds of veterans plan to “deploy” to Standing Rock to support those protesting there.
You can read the entirety of the Army Corps letter here.
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