Protesters demonstrating against President Donald Trump’s arrival in the Black Hills for the Mount Rushmore fireworks display were met with resistance from law enforcement, pepper sprayed and arrested after they blocked a highway to the monument with vans for nearly three hours Friday.
Over a dozen protesters were arrested after blocking Highway 16A, or Iron Mountain Road, before President Trump was set to make his way from Rapid City to Keystone and then on the highway to Mount Rushmore. Several of those arrested prayed before being detained by law enforcement.
Protesters cited that the Black Hills are sacred to Native Americans and that Trump’s administration opposes interests of Native Americans and other minority groups.
Freddie Longworth, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, said that the problem is bigger than the current president, but that Trump was the catalyst.
Some protesters dispersed after the South Dakota National Guard arrived on scene about an hour after protesters blocked the road and law enforcement declared it as an “unlawful assembly” over a megaphone.
Source for the rest of the story: USA Today
