Tear gas, rubber bullets, 12 arrests: Indigenous Peoples Day anti-border wall blockade

Tensions over protests against the construction of a border wall on ancestral O'odham land in southern Arizona have escalated.

On Monday, in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples Day, two O'odham groups set up a blockade on Arizona 85 near a Border Patrol checkpoint to protest the Trump administration's construction of the border wall.

Twelve people were arrested, including three minors, after Arizona Department of Public Safety officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, according to O'odham Action News, a website published by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

The blockade stopped traffic on the highway that runs through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to the Lukeville border crossing. It was organized by Defend O’odham Jewed and O’odham Anti Border Collective, two Indigenous groups, the O'odham Action News article said.

The blockade was intended to be a "peaceful demonstration in prayer and spiritual ceremony in resistance to the reported daily violence committed by the U.S. Border Patrol against O’odham lands and peoples," the article said.

Video posted on Vimeo by Rafael Samanez and on the Facebook page of the O'odham Anti Border Collective shows Arizona DPS troopers in riot gear putting on gas masks and helmets with shields as protesters chant in the background. 

The DPS officers, armed with long wooden sticks, then move in a straight line toward protestors, who begin running as DPS officer fire tear gas and non-lethal projectiles. 

At one point a protester is seen trying to kick what appears to be a smoke canister or tear gas off of the highway. 

Several DPS officers can also be seen tackling a protester to the ground. A DPS officer can be heard yelling, "You are going to stay down, got it?"

As the protester on the ground is handcuffed on the ground, DPS troopers are seen ordering protesters inside a vehicle to "turn the car off." Then troopers can be seen arresting several more people against the sides of the vehicles.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety received information at 7:17 a.m. that protesters were blocking both directions of  Arizona 85 at Milepost 57, creating a "significant traffic back-up," DPS spokesperson Bart Graves said.

Troopers arrived on the scene and witnessed the protesters blocking the highway, he said.

The troopers gave a dispersal order advising the protesters they had five minutes to leave the area on their own, Graves said.

"During this time, troopers attempted to have dialogue with the protesters, but protesters refused to communicate with them," Graves said in a written statement.

Graves said the protesters defied the dispersal order, refused to leave on their own accord, and continued to obstruct the highway.

"As a result of protesters’ failure to comply with a lawful order, troopers deployed smoke from canisters as a means to gain compliance," Graves said. "The protesters remained steadfast. Troopers then deployed tear gas to get the protestors off the highway. Two protestors were observed trying to throw the smoke and gas canisters back at the troopers, and less-lethal impact munitions were deployed against them."

Graves said the incident happened on and within the right-of-way of a state highway and not on tribal land.

Eight adults and three juveniles were arrested, Graves said. 

The group Defend O’odham Jewed posted on Instagram late Monday that all those arrested had been released.

A Border Patrol statement said protesters blocked traffic on Arizona 85 in both directions near the Tucson Sector Border Patrol Immigration Checkpoint. The Arizona Department of Public Safety responded "and after providing the protesters ample warning to clear the roadway, 12 individuals were taken into custody," the statement said.

The Border Patrol statement said no injuries were reported.

"We fully support the right to voice concerns and express opinions lawfully and peacefully under the first amendment," the Border Patrol statement said.

Monday was the second time O'odham activists have been arrested protesting the Trump administration's construction of new 30-foot-high fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border in what were once ancestral O'odham lands.

In September, two O'odham activists were arrested after blocking construction activity near Quitobaquito Springs in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

The springs in southwestern Arizona are sacred to the Tohono O'odham and Hia-Ced O'odham, Indigenous people who lived in the area as recently as three generations ago.

The springs are one of very few natural sources of water along the vast, rugged Arizona borderlands. 

The area also is at the crossroads of construction efforts by the Trump administration to replace existing vehicle barriers with 30-foot, steel bollards as part of an $891 million replacement project at Organ Pipe. 

On Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Donald Trump’s allocation of military funds to pay for construction of new and additional border fencing was illegal, upholding a December 2019 ruling from a federal judge, according to Courthouse News.

The decision was supposed to put an immediate stop to 11 border wall projects including four in Arizona.

Republic reporter Rafael Carranza contributed to this report.

Reach the reporter at daniel.gonzalez@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-444-8312. Follow him on Twitter @azdangonzalez.

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