Democracy Now! — Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016

Democracy Now! reports exclusively from the Standing Rock protest site as marchers push back against the bulldozers and security staff. Image: video still

On Saturday in North Dakota, security guards working for the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction. If completed, the Dakota Access pipeline would carry about 500,000 barrels of crude per day from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois, where it would meet up with an existing pipeline that would carry the oil all the way down to Texas. The pipeline has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and members of nearly 100 more tribes from across the U.S. and Canada. On Friday, lawyers for the tribe filed documents showing how the very land where Dakota Access would bulldoze on Saturday was, in fact, a tribal burial site. Democracy Now! was on the ground on Saturday, and brings you this exclusive report.

On Saturday in North Dakota, security guards working for the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction on a tribal burial site. On Sunday, more than 500 people marched back to the construction site and held a prayer, mourning the destruction of their ancestors’ graves. Now, later today, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., will decide whether to grant a temporary restraining order to halt temporarily further construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in the area near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. For more on the standoff at Standing Rock, Amy Goodman is joined by Dave Archambault, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Jan Hasselman, staff attorney with Earthjustice, who is representing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at today’s hearing in federal court.

As the video of Saturday’s action went viral, people immediately began comparing the dog attacks at Standing Rock to the violent crackdown against African-American protesters during the civil rights movement. Jonni Joyce appeared to discuss this. She’s an expert in law enforcement canine handling with more than 25 years of experience. She is the head of the consulting firm Jonni Joyce Seminars, International in South Dakota.

Over 1,000 people representing more than 100 tribes are gathered along the Cannonball River by the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to resist the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. It’s been described as the largest unification of Native American tribes in decades. On September 3, the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline on a sacred tribal burial site.

Saturday was also the first day of a two-week call for actions against the financial institutions that are bankrolling the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline project. A new investigation has revealed that more than two dozen major banks and financial institutions are helping finance the Dakota Access pipeline. The investigation was published by the research outlet LittleSis. It details how Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions have, combined, extended a $3.75 billion credit line to Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access.

We are honored to offer this broadcast as part of our affiliation with the Pacifica Network. Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.

Eric has completed the 2016 Midyear Reading, BALANCE. We strongly recommend you get all 12 signs. If you prefer, choose your individual signs here. Photo by European Southern Observatory.