Central ND News

On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, 2016, actress Jane Fonda joined thousands of Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protestors at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. 

Fonda, along with other celebrities, hosted an "Appreciation Dinner" for 500 people at the protest site.

“Let that crazy person feed people and be happy. I mean, come on, we’re talking about Barbarella,” Howaste Wakiya, Chumash Nation tribal member, told The Guardian of Fonda’s dinner. 

Dakota Access Pipeline | Facebook / Liquid Energy Pipeline Association

The dinner came after protests over the DAPL were held throughout the day as demonstrators staged multiple actions in the near freezing weather. 

Law enforcement officials, led by Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, said the day's protests—at locations including Turtle Hill, Backwater Bridge and Mandan—had been expected and were met with police response. 

"Today's multiple protest events on Thanksgiving day were no surprise to our law enforcement team," Kirchmeier said in a press release at the time. "The energy these paid agitators and protestors exerted to try and draw our law enforcement into confrontations did not work. We will respond in kind to any advances protestors make on our line. It's their decision and they can bring an end to this."

Kirchmeier emphasized that while protesters attempted to provoke law enforcement, the situation was handled without major incident, with a focus on maintaining public safety.

The protest at Turtle Hill began early in the morning when law enforcement observed protesters constructing a wooden bridge across Cantapeta Creek near the Red Warrior Camp. 

Despite verbal warnings, the protesters, many wearing body armor and masks, ignored the directives and pushed the makeshift bridge into the creek, advancing toward Turtle Hill. 

By late afternoon, about 350-400 protesters had gathered, but no arrests were made as the crowd eventually dispersed.

Meanwhile, a separate group of 170 protesters blocked the East Main and Memorial Highway intersection in Mandan, carrying slingshots, gas masks and even a pig’s head on a stick. 

Authorities issued a Wireless Emergency Alert to local residents and ordered the protesters to disperse. 

The third protest occurred at the Backwater Bridge, where approximately 150-200 protesters gathered. Law enforcement had received intelligence that the group planned to “take the bridge,” but no major confrontations occurred by evening. 

The protests gradually de-escalated by 6 p.m. 

Clashes with law enforcement resulted in at least two arrests—including obstruction and reckless endangerment—though the protest ultimately dispersed. 

NPR reported the protesters, calling themselves “water protectors,” led by the International Indigenous Youth Council, engaged in mostly peaceful demonstrations.