Lockdown Stops DAPL Construction in Iowa, 3 Arrested, Including Unicorn Riot Journalist

Lee County, IA – Early Wednesday afternoon, a group of water protectors entered a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site where earth was being cleared. This is a different site than the drill bore area near the Mississippi River, where most actions in Iowa have taken place thus far.

A woman named Krissana Mara, age 31, attached herself to the arm of an excavator using a lock-box device at a site down a dirt road off of 320 Street on the side of Highway 286.

Krissana Mara attaching herself to DAPL excavator with lockbox.
Krissana Mara attaching herself to DAPL excavator with lockbox.

Montrose Police and the Lee County Sheriff’s department responded to the action shortly after the lockdown began.

Montrose Police Chief Jordan Maag (who was sworn into office in 2014 at age 22) arrested Jimmy Betts, who had been present to provide food and water to Krissana Mara during her lockdown.

Lee County Sheriff’s deputy Dakota Foley arrested a Unicorn Riot journalist who was present documenting the direct action.

As the end of the workday approached, Karissa voluntarily unlocked from the lockbox and was promptly arrested.

Unicorn Riot has repeatedly attempted to contact the Lee County Sheriff’s Department and the Lee County Attorney for comment about the arrest of our journalist on Wednesday as well as the arrest of another Unicorn Riot journalist the Friday before.  Neither have yet responded.

Our reporter arrested while covering Wednesday’s lock-down action is currently imprisoned (as of 1am CDT on October 13, 2016) at the Lee County jail in Montrose, Iowa.

Deputy Foley told us that our journalist and Krissana Mara will both see a judge on Thursday, although our journalist who was arrested last week was told the same thing, and did not see a judge after being held in jail over night last week, and also did not see a judge when they appeared in court on Wednesday, October 12.  When we asked him on Thursday morning about the status of our journalist Jenn, who he arrested, Deputy Foley responded, “you don’t have a journalist”:

UPDATE [11:30AM 10/13/16]: Our reporter Jenn, arrested yesterday during #MississippiStand #NoDAPL coverage, was just released from Lee County, IA jail on $300 bond. As far as we know, 100+ individuals arrested till now at #NoDAPL protests in Lee County have been booked/released w/o bond. Yet bond was required to release our reporter Jenn.  

Unicorn Riot will continue to regularly provide direct updates about resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Continue to follow our media on Twitter, Facebook, and our website for more information surrounding the ongoing struggles to protect the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

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To see Unicorn Riot’s coverage of the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline struggle, see below.

August 2016

September 2016

October 2016

For our coverage earlier this spring of the Sacred Stone Camp, see May 27th report, “Dakota Access Pipeline Blockade Enters 2nd Month“; May 5th, “Sacred Stone Camp Resists Dakota Access Pipeline“; April 3rd, “Tribal Citizens Build Camp in Path of Oil Pipeline“; March 29th, “Tribal Citizens Prepare to Blockade Bakken Oil Pipeline“.