Private security guards who deployed dogs on protesters at a North Dakota oil pipeline demonstration were not properly licensed and could face criminal charges, according to a local investigation. The Native American-led protests of the Dakota access pipeline received national attention in September when officers allegedly pepper-sprayed activists while guard dogs attacked protesters in a confrontation that was caught on video by the news program Democracy Now! Security officials told the Morton County sheriff’s office that “there were no intentions of using the dogs or handlers for security work”, the office said in its investigation report. “I was face to face with the security guards and the dogs,” she said, adding that at the time of the protest, construction workers were “bulldozing sacred ground”. Private security workers were continuing to monitor them on Wednesday afternoon, she added.

Source: The Guardian October 26, 2016 21:15 UTC