An hour between tohono O’odham protesters and the federal government on the site of a border wall structure ended Monday afternoon with shelters and push-ups as border officials and park rangers physically cleared the area.
The 7 a. m. se protest opposed a replacement fence in the Quitobaquito domain of the Organ Pipe National Forest in southwestern Arizona, a domain with a spring that the other inhabitants of O’odham saborated.
After a blessing and prayer, organizers of the O’odham Anti-Border Collective led an organization of about 25 protesters from Tucson and other parts of Arizona to the structure on the U. S. -Mexico border. They carried a banner that said, “Borders — genocide, there is no wall in the land of O’Odham. “Many members of the structure staff recorded the action on their cell phones.
The concrete for the installation of the barrier uses the nearby groundwater that began to wreak havoc in Quitobaquito and the sacred fountain.
Work stopped after protesters set up camp on the site.
In the afternoon, National Park Service officials arrived at the site and warned the organization to move for security reasons.
It is closed to the public, said a ranger, due to the structure and heavy equipment.
Three more warnings followed, with the organization standing. The protesters spoke to each other, some began doing an O’odham prayer song while the sage burned the organizers. 106 degrees.
The confrontation between the protesters and the National Park Service continued until four o’clock in the afternoon, when a caravan of 25 border patrol officers arrived at the site, some with paintball guns; other AR-15s.
Protesters tied their arms to form a human barrier as border patrol officers approached. The rangers walked to the protesters and snatched a gun from the human chain. The physical altercation intensified when a ranger pulled out a paralyzing gun.
Above a bull horn, O’odham organizers began talking to Border Patrol agents.
“We sing songs to make our land heal,” one protester said. “O’odham will be there on both sides of the border. We exist on both sides of this imaginary line.
“We are facing the generational trauma of their abuse,” one protester said at one point.
“We’re done. That’s it. You don’t control the border, you terrorize everyone here, from Texas to California and in between,” added another.
At 4:42 p. m. , Border Patrol officers and two park rangers rushed towards the protesters, throwing others to the ground as they struggled to support others. They pushed and pushed from all directions, with border officers seeking to separate other interdependent people and protesters by pushing them back.
Officers armed with paintball guns pointed to the remaining protesters as officers expelled them from the structure site.
No arrests were made and some protesters gave the impression of having imaginable scratches and bruises.