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On the 27th of February 1973, a group of indigenous Americans staged a protest against the

US authorities at the site of a historic battle.

Wounded Knee.

In 2011, Alan Johnston spoke to Russell Means from the Uglala Su tribe, who was the first

national director of the American Indian movement and led the occupation at Wounded Knee.

Its February 1973, the prairies of the Western United States, and a group of American Indians

are about to make a stand at a site that is to them deeply significant.

The place is Wounded Knee.

My first morning was very cold.

I went outside with Edgar Bearer and Steve at Young Bear, and we were looking to the east.

The sun hasn't come up yet, but we just stood there looking east.

I said, we're never going to get out of here alive.

And Steve at Young Bear said, just like our ancestors.

The ancestors were the Sue Indians massacred at Wounded Knee by the US cavalry in 1890.

And the men gathered there before that dawn more than 80 years later were members of the

American Indian movement.

They had already staged a series of publicity grabbing actions.

Their aim was to air their grievances over the management of Indian reservations and draw

attention to what they regarded as the wider injustices inflicted on their people for

generations.

Among the most seasoned activists was Russell Means.

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