Oglala Sioux vote to ban Trump from Mount Rushmore – hours before controversial fireworks event

'The people are angry. All I can do as a leader is stand back and support them'

The Ogala Sioux tribal council voted on Friday to ban President Donald Trump and the South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem from Mount Rushmore hours ahead of a planned Fourth of July celebration.

The president and governor were due at the monument on Friday evening for the celebration, which will include a fireworks celebration.

Native News Online reported that 7,500 are expected to attend the celebration.

The tribe said the lack of government-to-government consultation on the event was a primary motivator for the vote. Mount Rushmore sits on territory that was unceded in treaties in the Black Hills.

Ogala President Julian Bear Runner spoke with The Guardian about the tribe's concerns over Mr Trump's visit.

"The lands on which that mountain is carved and the lands he's about to visit belong to the Great Sioux nation under a treaty signed in 1851 and the For Laramie Treaty of 1868 and I have to tell him he doesn't have permission from its original sovereign owners to enter the territory at this time."

Mr Bear Runner also sent the president a letter telling him he wasn't welcome on the land.

Appearing on MSNBC, Mr Bear Runner said: "The people are angry. All I can do as a leader is stand back and support them. And to stand with them and help them in every way I can to do what is right."

The council also voted to ban Mr Trump over fears that a fireworks display could start wildfires. Mr Trump requested a near decade long fireworks ban be lifted so he could have the event.

"They used to do it many years ago, and for some reason they were unable or unallowed to do it. They just weren't allowed to do it, and I opened it up and we're going to have a tremendous 3 July and then we're coming back here, celebrating the Fourth of July in Washington DC," Mr Trump said.

Cheryl Schreier, a former superintendent of Mount Rushmore, penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post calling for the event to be cancelled due to the potential for wildfires.

"And this year, resuming the fireworks demonstration is an even greater threat to both humans and nature. Thanks to an extremely dry summer, South Dakota faces a higher than usual risk of wildfires," she wrote."

Mr Trump disregarded concerns over potential fire hazards caused by fireworks earlier this year, saying "What can burn? It's stone."

The National Parks Service conducted a study to gauge the potential effects of fireworks and deemed them safe, but noted that in a dry year a large wildfire was possible.

In addition to the concerns over fireworks and the general lack of communication between the tribal government and the US government, the council also had concerns that the event would heighten the coronavirus threat to the Oglala Sioux. The council fears - based on other events Mr Trump has hosted in recent weeks - that people will not wear masks or social distance during the fireworks display.

CNN medical analyst and infectious disease specialist Celine Gounder said on Friday that she thought the event was "beyond irresponsible."

"This is the behaviour of a cult leader who is jumping off the cliff, except he's jumping off into a safety net where he has protections around him. People around him are being tested. He's being tested on a regular basis. While he asks his followers to jump off a cliff into nothing," she said. "I mean, this is extremely dangerous behaviour and unfortunately, this has become so politicised where you abide by public health and scientific recommendations on the basis of your political beliefs not based on the science. And people are really going to be harmed as a result of this."

Ms Noem, an ally of Mr Trump, said attendees would not be required to wear masks or social distance. Protests in Keystone, South Dakota - where Mount Rushmore is located - are expected.

The Mayor of Rapid City - the largest city near the monument - Steve Allender told Al Jazeera News that he was concerned that people with coughs or other potential Covid-19 symptoms wouldn't exclude themselves from the event.

"We're going to have thousands of people, shoulder to should at these events - someone in line to see a president and being able to see fireworks at Mount Rushmore - they are probably not likely to disqualify themselves because they the developed a cough the day of or the day before," he said.

Other tribal councils in the region have stood in solidarity with the Oglala Sioux's concerns regarding the event.

"The president is putting our tribal members at risk to stage a photo op at one of our most sacred sites," Harold Frazier of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said.

The mountain that the Mount Rushmore monument is carved into - referred to by the Sioux as The Six Grandfathers - is a sacred site to the Sioux people.