Affrontement tribal à Coarsegold (Californie) – 29 février 2012

Calif. Tribal Standoff Turns Violent; 2 Injured

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COARSEGOLD, Calif. February 29, 2012

COARSEGOLD, Calif. (AP) — A two-day standoff between factions of a California tribe divided on leadership and the expulsion of members has ended after a sheriff stepped in, threatening to arrest anyone who stayed at a government center where a scuffle left at least two people injured.

The rival Chukchansi Indian factions on Tuesday voluntarily left the center in Coarsegold, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco, and agreed to stay away for 48 hours to give the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs time to intervene in the conflict, Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said. Three people were taken into custody, he said.

« We’re pretty much at a nonviolent standoff, » Anderson said. « They are not in contact with each other. We’re at an impasse. »

Sheriff’s deputies stepped in to break up the clash after a fight involving as many as 40 people outside the government center Tuesday in which one person was stabbed and suffered non-life threatening injuries and another suffered a head injury, Anderson said. The skirmish followed Monday’s takeover of a tribal office by about 40 supporters of a group whose leaders claimed they were denied their rightful place on the tribe’s governing council in the wake of a disputed December election. Read more…

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