I would suggest getting all sides of the story by also watching Unicorn Riot live feeds to supplement what you are being fed by mainstream news. I hadn't heard of Unicorn Riot before this year, but their live streams often offer much needed details that are left out of the snippets in the news.
For example, where were these major news outlets last month when the protesters were deliberately attacked by security dogs? There is plenty of video of unmarked security guards lunging into into crowds of protesters with attack dogs coming out of the crowd with their mouths bloody. Major news outlets didn't seem to have much to say about that.
Interesting. The raw video feeds I've seen show protestors tearing down a fence to cross onto private property and into an active construction site. The bulldozers that were working immediately shut down, and the security staff step in to keep the protestors away from the operators. Protestors strike at the dogs and guards with flag poles. This could be where the dogs got blood on their face.
Rather aggressive actions from both sides, it seems.
I am most definitely biased towards the side of the protesters, so it's hard for me to make a post that doesn't sound defensive. I would simply argue that if they were breaking the law by trespassing, they should have been arrested, not deliberately attacked by dogs. Many people went to the hospital with dog bites that day. It was rather convenient that protesters are met with immense police presence EVERYWHERE they go, yet there were no police anywhere to be seen on the site that day.
There are protesters that are acting aggressively. What I've seen is rocks being thrown after they've been pepper sprayed, rubber bulleted, etc., and there are also protesters yelling at the angry protesters to stop throwing things and putting them all in danger. I've seen rocks get hurled at cops and I've seen protesters form a line between cops and their own people to defend the cops. I see cops trying to handle people delicately and I see cops kicking people while they're down. I see good and bad happening on all sides.
There is also evidence that a DAPL employee sped towards their camp with guns in his vehicle this past week. He was ran off the road by camp security (ie, protesters) and later arrested, and they found the insurance for the vehicle he was driving registered to DAPL. So there are also agitators being thrown into the mix.
I really hate to see things escalating to such a dangerous level, for all sides, but I am definitely more concerned that protester and journalist rights are being violated.
The protests have spread to my city as well. We found out that a number of our police officers were dispatched to North Dakota to assist. Queue angry citizens lined up at our government center in opposition.
But at any rate, I am glad that folks are willing to watch the feeds. It's easier to form your own conclusions that way. You will not see most of that on CNN. It does give you a good perspective on what is going on without a major news corporation's filter.