Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Minnehaha - On Monday a tripod was set up in the middle of Interstate Highway 55 to protest its proposed reroute. People then moved existing construction barricades into the street to shut down the highway. The road was shut down for blocks all day and we had a big ol' street party. One woman locked down to a hauling truck and blocked the front gate of the construction site so they couldn't do any more work.

Seven people were up in an old-growth cottonwood tree that we thought they were planning to take down that day. At about 5:00, 60 state trooper cars came in. They arrested 13 people on the ground and attempted to evict and cut the squatted tree. They broke out the cherry pickers and fire truck ladders and wound up cutting the branches that people were still in, almost killing the sitters.

3 people from the tree were arrested, with one sent to the hospital. 4 people stayed up there. The police presence on the ground continued...they vowed to deprive the remaining sitters of all food and water, and they cut their lines so they can't get down safely.

On Wednesday a group of college students opposed to the reroute took over the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation's offices. 12 people were arrested, and are still in jail.

The troopers and MN/DoT and the contractors, in a retaliation move, went and cut thirteen trees on the site where the occupied houses used to be. One person was arrested trying to get up a tree (she is also still in jail), bringing the total number of arrests to 13...the same number of trees they cut.

Today, we get the rumor that they're going to bring in the National Guard, armed with rubber bullets, to evict our occupation on Saturday. We don't know if this rumor is true, but we know something is going to happen. State trooper helicopters have been encircling camp all week, and state troopers on foot have been seen in the woods, scouting trails and tree sits.

All tree sits are now being staffed 24 hours a day. 2 people came down from the cottomwood sit today and are in jail...the remaining 2 say they're in it for the long haul. The troopers are still on the ground in an effort to starve them out. Things are escalating fast.