Claim: Did police set fire to anti-pipeline protest camp in North Dakota?

Rating: 100% False

Background: On February 1, 2017, the Alternative Media Syndicate published a photograph of burning tents alongside a headline claiming that police had raided an anti-pipeline protest camp, dismantling tipis and burning what remains. The image cited in the article is a screen from the HBO film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (a historical drama about Native Americans) as evidence.

What really happened? Law enforcement arrested 76 protesters Wednesday afternoon after they attempted to create a new campsite on private property. According to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, officers entered the camp after protesters failed to respond to repeated warnings to vacate the area.

The Sheriff’s Office further said that helped members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reclaim their belongings after the illegal campers had been arrested. “Representatives from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe coordinated with law enforcement and came to collect the tepee hides from the camp site to return them to the reservation,” the statement read.