Protesters in South Dakota have set up a roadblock in an attempt to keep Trump supporters from attending the fireworks at Mount Rushmore tonight:
Image: vehicles, #Indigenous demonstrators block the road. A sign reads, "You Are On Stolen Land"
Our field correspondent reporting state troopers have given 1 verbal warning so far. Officers have metal handcuffs.
Many #Trump supporters are waiting to get through the roadblock. pic.twitter.com/H9dDrWEuco
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) July 3, 2020
And they’ve removed the tires from vans blocking the road in an attempt to make them more difficult to move:
BREAKING: Protestors using vans to block entrance to Mt. Rushmore event. Removing tires creating physical barrier to event. pic.twitter.com/og0DND5FHH
— Jordan Parker (@jordanparker_) July 3, 2020
Police have threatened arrests, but as of now the standoff continues:
Tires removed from vans creating physical barriers as they can no longer be driven. pic.twitter.com/b74hWLj3VW
— Jordan Parker (@jordanparker_) July 3, 2020
We’ll keep you posted:
Protestors continuing to yell demands at law enforcement. Taunting Trump supports as well.
— Jordan Parker (@jordanparker_) July 3, 2020
Update 8:42 p.m.
The protest is still going on and the South Dakota National Guard is on the scene now:
National Guard moved past van blockade and now there is one group of protestors with a line of military on either side pic.twitter.com/qBnsgKRK2Y
— Erin Bormett (@EEBormett) July 4, 2020
Tow trucks have been called in as well:
Tow trucks moving in towards center of protest (3 large white vans have blocked road to mt Rushmore) ongoing protest- @RSBNetwork pic.twitter.com/6RgF0GNA88
— Liz (@LizWillis_) July 4, 2020
But it looks to have disrupted the event:
In 3 minutes the gates at Mount Rushmore will close and those with tickets will need to be inside. Unsure if any special accommodations will be made for this circumstance or if the people on the other side of the blockage are out of luck
— Erin Bormett (@EEBormett) July 3, 2020
There’s a new deadline of 7:00 p.m. local time:
Protestors have been given a 30 minute time period to leave, which will end at 7:00 pm. A speaker at the protest has said that they will stay even if law enforcement tries to remove them. He also said that those who choose to leave are just as much warriors as those who stay
— Erin Bormett (@EEBormett) July 4, 2020
“Today has been a proud day to be Lakota. We shut down Mount Rushmore. We put this place in lockdown for three hours and we did it in a good way. We got this power from our ancestors”
— Erin Bormett (@EEBormett) July 4, 2020
So, the protesters won?
This whole Mount Rushmore protest is a disaster for administration. Black Lives Matter and the Keystone protesters planned this thing out in advance. They got the optics, and the morale victory they needed to shut down Trump with only a few dozen protesters.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 4, 2020
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