The state patrol arrested two activists this morning in the protest against the rerouting of Highway 55 in Minneapolis. Members of Earth First! and other groups have been camped (out) in the path of the proposed highway expansion for more than a month, but today marked the first arrests. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. Officers arrested two men who had chained themselves to heavy equipment. The bulldozers were sent there to remove water and gas connections to houses condemned to make way for the highway. Earth First! and other groups including the American Indian Movement, the Indiginous Environmental Network, and the Mendota Dakota have
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MARY LOZIER: Officers arrested two men who had chained themselves to heavy equipment. The bulldozer and backhoe were sent there to remove water and gas connections to houses condemned, to make way for the highway. Earth First and other groups, including the American Indian Movement, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and the Mendota Dakota, have vowed to prevent the project, which would take out trees and green space near Minnehaha Park.
The protesters say parts of the area are sacred to Native Americans. The groups have built a squatter's camp of tents, plastic awnings, and tree houses in the yards of the homes scheduled for demolition. After the protesters were cut free and arrested, Minnegasco workers left without disconnecting the gas and water pipes. Earth First spokesman David Knight.
DAVID KNIGHT: We see it as a victory in a lot of ways because we managed to protect these houses in this area. The people were incredibly dedicated, beautiful in their commitment. It got on the media again. And the city, at some point, is going to have to deal with what's happening here. They've been trying to avoid it, just wait us out. They've been unwilling to make arrests, even in the case of banner drops from cranes. And I think that now it's going to go through the court system.
MARY LOZIER: Knight and other protesters say they're prepared to camp out at the site indefinitely. Bob MacFarlane of the Minnesota Department of Transportation says MnDOT, for now, has no plans to remove the protesters.
BOB MACFARLANE: Our plans are to continue to be patient, hope for the best from the protesters, that they'll exercise good judgment. And if we do have to remove them, to make sure that we do it in a way that is safe for everybody.
MARY LOZIER: Construction on the highway is not scheduled to begin until this spring, so the standoff could continue for months. In the meantime, residents of the quiet neighborhood of modest 1 and 2-storey houses near the path of the highway have had to adjust to the colorful spectacle in their midst. Neighbor Cheryl Scruton isn't happy. She says she just finished landscaping her backyard. Now what she sees from it is blue plastic tents and an ever-changing parade of protesters.
CHERYL SCRUTON: POWs, missing in action, Vietnam vets, I mean, what does that have to do with this road? And I don't know what everybody with all their little signs and all their groups show up back there to get their moment in the public. It's ridiculous.
MARY LOZIER: But John Ruiz, who lives a few houses down from the encampment, says he just ignores it. He opposes the highway project, but he doubts the protest will do much good.
JOHN RUIZ: I personally don't think that there is a chance. Because the economical and political forces that control this country have more power than the people that live in the city. And they have so much power that I don't think that we could stop them.
MARY LOZIER: The Highway 55 rerouting project has been opposed for decades by a wide variety of neighborhood groups who have tried various legal means to stop it. Earth First and the other groups say they believe support for their protest is growing as the weeks wear on. They're planning a rally at the State Capitol and a march on the State Department of Transportation, October 14. I'm Mary Lozier, Minnesota Public Radio.