Urgent Help Needed: Tar Sands Shutdown Ends in Police Brutality, Injuries

from Earth First! Newswire

As of yet there is no clear narrative of events as they transpired.

This morning, about 80 land defenders halted construction of the first US tar sands mine in Utah.

It was reported through Tar Sands Resistance via Twitter that a group of people blocking the road were released without charges on site, while people locked-down were arrested.

It was then reported that arrested people were being put into a police van as it was surrounded by protestors chanting “Let them go!”

Reports that follow claim that police brutality occurred, and two activists were injured. One activist was taken immediately to the hospital, and another is being treated at the jail.

19 people were arrested at the site in total.

As more activists went to the Uintah County Jail to provide assistance to those arrested (for instance, finding out what bail would be set at), two more activists, including Cindy Spoon of Tar Sands Blockade, were arrested.