Nez Perce leaders were arrested blocking a tarsands megaload in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning.
"We were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct," Brooklyn Baptiste told Censored News.
"Eight of the nine members were arrested," Baptiste said of the Nez Perce Executive Council.
"Most of us are out now," Baptiste said at 10 am.
Nez Perce gathered before midnight at the border of the sovereign Nez Perce Nation to block the megaload approaching on the highway. Singing the Flag Song, Nez Perce blocked the tarsands megaload before police and deputies removed blockaders and arrested Nez Perce leaders.
The fist of two massive shipments of oil refinery equipment continued its trek along scenic U.S. 12 early Tuesday. The load departed the Port of Wilma, near Clarkston, Wash., shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, The Lewiston Tribune reported. The two-lane highway in Idaho passes through the Nez Perce reservation and a federally designated Wild and Scenic River corridor.
Idaho issued a permit last week allowing Omega Morgan to begin hauling two giant water purification units, measuring 225 feet long, 21 feet wide and weighing 644,000 pounds, across the state, into Montana and on to the oil sands project in Alberta, Canada.
Nez Perce Chairman Silas Whitman said Monday night that collaboration and diplomacy have failed and tribal members anticipated "intercepting the loads at the reservation line."
"We are tired of being pushed," Whitman said at a news conference at the Clearwater River Casino.
Ed Becenti, Dine', sent a message of support on Monday night:
"As a pure Dine' individual warrior, my ultimate support goes out to all the Nez Perce Warriors protesting the 'tarsands megaload' NOW. My so-called Navajo tribal government is an embarrassment to my traditional upbringing and beliefs. Being the largest land-based Native American Tribe in the U.S., Navajos should ultimately reserve the role as a blood-brother and almighty friend in times of defense of all Native American people in the U.S. and abroad!"
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Wild Tide Rising photo
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2:30 AM UPDATE: Twenty to thirty remaining, standing Nez Perce tribal members gathered around the tribal flag and sang, as about 20 combined state/county/tribal police confronted them. The majority of protest participants stood on the sidelines in support of this Nez Perce blockade. Traffic started piling up behind the convoy again, and police used their vehicles to push through the crowd that the megaload breached at 2:20 am. This blockade lasted longer than any other regional megaload obstruction since the first tar sands extraction modules rolled from Lewiston area ports on February 1, 2011. People are talking about further blockades on upcoming nights, perhaps in Kamiah
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Rising Tide photo
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"Eight of the nine members were arrested," Baptiste said of the Nez Perce Executive Council.
Nez Perce Chairman Silas Whitman said Monday night that collaboration and diplomacy have failed and tribal members anticipated "intercepting the loads at the reservation line."
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