By In what could only be termed a potential gross violation of human rights, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department announced today it plans to block all supplies from entering Standing Rock camps — including deliveries of food.
Reuters reports: “Supplies, including food and building materials, will be blocked from entering the main camp following Governor Jack Dalrymple’s signing of an ‘emergency evacuation’ order on Monday, said Maxine Herr, a spokeswoman from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.”
Herr flatly stated, according to Reuters, “They have deliveries, retailers that are delivering to them – we will turn around any of those services.”
Although the governor’s order went into effect immediately, North Dakota Department of Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong noted no deliveries to the camps had yet been turned away as of Tuesday morning.
However, ‘The building materials intended for the site are a top priority because the camp is not zoned for permanent structures,’ Reuters reported she said. ‘Propane tanks also will be blocked because they have been used in attacks against law enforcement.’
The latter claim has been proven false by eyewitness video from the night of November 20-21, when law enforcement assaulted peaceful water protectors for over six hours in a non-stop barrage of rubber bullets, tear gas, impact and concussion grenades, and even weaponized water — in temperatures dropping into the low 20s Fahrenheit. Sophia Wilansky’s arm was nearly ripped from her body when an impact grenade exploded. But the sheriff denies police used any weapon that could have caused such damage, despite evidence collected from the scene and by surgeons working to repair her traumatic wound.
Shortly after issuing the notice it would block supplies, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department backed away somewhat, saying it would take a passive role to try to prevent supplies from reaching the camps, by issuing hefty $1,000 fines for vehicles attempting such deliveries — saying it had interpreted the evacuation order as a reason for a blockade.
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