Flagstaff Police Attack and Arrest San Francisco Peaks Marchers

 

Posted 07 August 2011, by Brenda Norrell, The Narcosphere, narcosphere.narconews.com

 

Photos: Navajo Klee Benally attacked and arrested by Flagstaff, Arizona, police. Photo by Youth of the Peaks.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Defenders of San Francisco Peaks were arrested during a peaceful march on Sunday and then locked down to halt pipeline construction on Monday at dawn. Native Americans and supporters are continuing their week of action to halt the Snowbowl Resort from the continued destruction of sacred San Francisco Peaks.

Protect the Peaks supporters locked down on Snowbowl Road this morning, Monday, Aug. 8, at 5 am. Peaks defender and police liaision Rudy Preston was arrested at the scene on Monday morning.

Alex Soto, O’odham, reporting from the lockdown, said that Flagstaff and Coconino County officers were cutting away the pipes to the barrels which the eight protesters were locked down with. Construction was halted on the pipeline which would carry sewage water for snowmaking for tourists at the Snowbowl Ski Resort, on sacred San Francisco Peaks.

On Sunday, six people protecting San Francisco Peaks were targeted and arrested during a peaceful march for the protection of the Peaks. San Francisco Peaks defender Klee Benally, Navajo, was among those arrested.

In front of Macy’s Coffeehouse on Sunday afternoon, undercover police infiltrated the hundred person march in an attempt to squash the growing anti-Snowbowl movement.

The peaceful march by Native Americans and supporters was surrounded by police from the moment the march formed, marchers said.

One marcher said, “They were just waiting to pounce. And they did!”

The six arrested were released on bail late Sunday. Klee Benally said in a message on Twitter: “Just released from jail. Protect the peaks. The struggle continues.”

Supporters protecting San Francisco Peaks said they will continue with a planned protest outside the US Forest Service on Monday at 12:30 p.m.

Native Americans are struggling to defend sacred San Francisco Peaks from snow to be made from sewage water at the Snowbowl tourist resort on the Peaks. The mountains are sacred to 13 Native American Nations. Medicine men gather plants on the Peaks and hold traditional healing ceremonies on the Peaks.

Protect the Peaks said they will continue to resist the destruction of San Francisco Peaks.

Navajos and supporters said that more than one hundred people, including families with children and elders, marched through downtown Flagstaff on Sunday in protest of the destruction and desecration of the San Francisco Peaks by Arizona Snowbowl.

“Demonstrators first gathered at Wheeler Park where they were immediately ordered to leave the public park by the Flagstaff Police Department. As the march wound through downtown Flagstaff demonstrators were met with positive responses and support while dozens of police – many out of uniform — harassed the demonstrators,” Protect the Peaks said in a statement.

“Police cars drove alongside the marchers. As the protesters passed out flyers and carried banners through Flagstaff’s Southside, police violently disrupted the march, grabbing those who were closest to the street and arresting them. As six marchers were handcuffed, the remaining demonstrators continued to yell demands for an end to the Peaks’ destruction.”

“As long as Arizona Snowbowl, the Obama Administration’s Forest Service and the City of Flagstaff continue this ecocide and cultural genocide, we will not stop,” said Klee Benally (Dine’), one of the arrested marchers. “We will pray, march, protest, and take whatever action is necessary to ensure that our basic human rights, dignity and environment are safeguarded. Today’s unjustified force from the Flagstaff Police Department demonstrates that they are not on the side of justice or healthy communities. The Forest Service and City of Flagstaff are on the side of corporate interests that are destroying our communities.”

Since May 25, 2011, the owners of Arizona Snowbowl, with the support of the U.S. Forest Service and the Flagstaff City Council, have laid over five miles of a 14.8 mile wastewater pipeline and have clear-cut over 40 acres of rare alpine forest. A current lawsuit against the Forest Service, focusing on human health impacts of wastewater snowmaking, is still under appeal in the 9th Circuit Court. The individuals at today’s march are separate from the Coalition involved in the lawsuit.

Sunday’s march joins four decades of sustained resistance to desecration of the Holy Peaks. Over the past three weeks since Snowbowl began clear-cutting, dozens of protest camps have been established on the mountain.

“The Week of Action is a culmination of efforts to directly address the lack of political will of the Forest Service and City Council to safeguard the community, public health and cultural rights,” said Nadia Del Callejo who was arrested while simply video taping the incident.

“The same profit driven push that has desecrated the Peaks, is the same sickness that has lead to the militarization of the border and is now trying to desecrate South Mountain, which is sacred to all O’odham.” said Alex Soto (Tohono O‘odham ) who was also arrested, “Sacred sites are under attack, but today we said no. Our solidarity in these struggles is re-establishing our traditional networks of support ”

Demonstrators invite everyone to join them Monday, August 8, 12:30 pm at the United States Coconino National Forest Service Office at 1824 S. Thomson St, Wednesday, 12:30pm at High Desert Investment at 504 E Butler Ave and Wednesday, 4:00pm at Flagstaff City Hall.

Protesters vowed to not stop until the desecration of the Peaks stops. “I am not afraid of what will happen to me if I protest, what I am more afraid of is what will happen if I do not stand up for what the Peaks are,” Del Callejo said.

More info at:

protectpeaks@gmail.com

www.truesnow.org

More photos and updates: Censored News: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

About Brenda Norrell

Biography:

Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 29 years. She is publisher of Censored News, focusing on Indigenous Peoples, human rights and the US border. Now censored by the mainstream media, she previously was a staff reporter at numerous American Indian newspapers and a stringer for AP, USA Today and others. She lived on the Navajo Nation for 18 years, and then traveled with the Zapatistas. She covered the climate summits in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Cancun, Mexico, in 2010.

Personal Website: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

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