BLOGS

Lakota chant interrupts Keystone vote-counting

David Montgomery
dmontgomery@argusleader.com

A group of anti-Keystone XL protesters erupted into Native American chants from the U.S. Senate gallery after the Senate fell a vote short of approving the controversial pipeline today.

One of the chanters was Greg Grey Cloud, a South Dakota resident, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and a prominent anti-Keystone activist.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was presiding over the Senate at the time. Warren is no friend of the Keystone pipeline, is a champion of the Democratic Party's left wing and claims Native American ancestry, but she didn't hesitate to order the sergeant-at-arms to restore order in the galleries.

Roll Call reports that five protesters were "dragged out" of the chamber by the Capitol Police and handcuffed with zip ties. Grey Cloud "continued singing as he was knocked to the floor and pulled to the wall."

Here's video of Grey Cloud being taken away in handcuffs, from Bloomberg Politics' Dave Weigel:

His fellow activist Jane Kleeb said Grey Cloud wasn't protesting anything with his Senate gallery song, but rather rejoicing in the victory as the Keystone pipeline fell short: