Sioux tribal members end takeover of council chambers in South Dakota

John MacDonald

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

AGENCY VILLAGE, S.D. - Members of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux tribe ended a takeover of the tribal headquarters after the council agreed to suspend the panel that governs the tribe's casinos.

The demonstrators had barricaded themselves in the council chambers Tuesday afternoon, demanding an investigation of alleged tribal corruption.

"This started out as a council meeting," said Paul McCabe, special agent with the FBI in Minneapolis. "When the council meeting was adjourned, some people who were in attendance there asked for the resignation of the council and the gaming board.

"They adjourned the council, and then these people were joined by some armed individuals."

No shots were fired, and several protesters and their supporters denied they had any weapons.

The protest ended Wednesday afternoon after the tribal council agreed to a 90-day suspension of the seven-member panel that governs the tribal casinos.

During that time, the protesters' concerns and complaints will be studied, said Rosebud Marshall, judicial representative from the Old Agency District, one of the tribe's seven districts.

It was the second tribal standoff in the state this year. In the southwestern corner of South Dakota, the Oglala Sioux tribal headquarters at Pine Ridge has been occupied by protesters since Jan. 16 in a stalemate with a faction representing the tribal treasurer, whom the occupiers accuse of mismanaging funds.