Chaos on the Clearwater River: Second Night of Megaload Blockades

 

7.8.13

One day after a three-hour block­ade involv­ing upwards of 150–200 peo­ple from the Nez Perce Nation, Idle No More, and Wild Ida­ho Ris­ing Tide, more than 50 activists once again ded­i­cat­ed them­selves to stop­ping mega­load ship­ments through Ida­ho.

Omega Mor­gan, the com­pa­ny respon­si­ble for the trans­port of the 200-ton mega­load, has been warned by the For­est Ser­vice that the ship­ment is unau­tho­rized, and the Nez Perce tribe is seek­ing an injunc­tion. How­ev­er, Omega Mor­gan is try­ing to sneak the mega­load through against the law, so direct action must be tak­en.

The Nez Perce put out a call yes­ter­day for activists to join them in renewed efforts to stop the tar sands equip­ment from mov­ing through High­way 12. More than 50 pro­tes­tors came out. They were met by a force of 40–50 police offi­cers in a fleet of cars.

Police gave pro­test­ers 15 min­utes to speak out as they blocked the road­way, before being forced to move to the shoul­der. Some young activists decid­ed to main­tain the pres­ence of the block­ade by heav­ing boul­ders and large rocks into the streets, which held traf­fic up fur­ther.

Sev­er­al Nez Perce tribe-mem­bers were arrest­ed, adding to the 19 arrest­ed on Mon­day night (includ­ing the entire exec­u­tive com­mit­tee).