After reportedly being hit by a concussion grenade during the police attack on protectors fighting against the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota on Sunday night, 21-year-old activist Sophia Wilansky is now in critical condition and has undergone a number of surgeries.

According to reports, the police attacks at Standing Rock included police firing rubber bullets, mace canisters and water cannons in subzero temperatures. More than 300 people suffered injuries in the attack. The injuries included hypothermia, seizures, loss of consciousness, and impaired vision resulting from being shot by a rubber bullet in the face as issued in a statement by the Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council.

Witnesses at the Sunday attack claim that ambulances evacuated and hospitalized at least 26 people from the area. Sophia Wilansky was one of those seriously wounded. She was evacuated and flown to a Minneapolis hospital. Following her surgery, a she posted on her Facebook page early this morning saying that her arm has not been amputated, but that it’ll take another week for doctors to determine if amputation will be necessary.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department stated that the police is not held responsible for her injury. This is not Wilansky’s first act of resistance. The New-York-based activist has participated in movements against the construction of pipelines, including the AIM Spectra pipeline, in New York and across the East Coast.

A prayer vigil will be held at 4 p.m. today in front of the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

source:http://reflectionofmind.org