Over 85 Percent of Arrested #NoDAPL Protesters Are From Outside of North Dakota

Yesterday there was a standoff between #NoDAPL protesters seeking to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline and law enforcement when the latter group blocked Morton County road 136 off Highway 6 near St. Anthony.

The protesters, as is their wont, were headed to a work site where pipeline workers were engaged in lawful construction activities. These pipeline workers have been repeatedly harassed by the protesters who vandalize equipment and trespass on land they have no legal right to be on. No doubt more harassment and vandalism and trespass was on the agenda for the protesters yesterday.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]”To date, authorities have arrested 96 individuals for illegal protest activity,” the release reads. “Of those individuals, 14 are from North Dakota 82 are from outside the state.”[/mks_pullquote]

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department sent out the press release below about the incident, but buried at the bottom of it is an interesting statistic.

“To date, authorities have arrested 96 individuals for illegal protest activity,” the release reads. “Of those individuals, 14 are from North Dakota 82 are from outside the state.”

That means over 85 percent of the people arrested protesting this pipeline are from outside of North Dakota. Of course, that’s mitigated somewhat by the 21 arrests of South Dakota residents. The Standing Rock reservation straddles North and South Dakota, so that’s not surprising.

Excluding the Dakotas, however, you still get more than 64 percent of arrests from other places.

Here’s a breakdown of the states (and two Canadian provinces) where the arrests have come from per data I received from Morton County yesterday:

Overall the protesters are from 25 different states and 2 Canadian provinces.

These numbers are significant, mostly in that it illustrates that there are a significant number of activists who have traveled to this protest movement to cause trouble.

Here’s the press release:

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