Tribe sets up encampment on Brown University land

BRISTOL, R.I. (AP) — Dozens of people, including members of a Native American tribe and their supporters, have set up an encampment on Brown University land, saying the land was illegally taken from them hundreds of years ago.

The Pokanoket Nation (pronounced poh-kah-NOH'-ket) says the long-term encampment, started Sunday, is aimed at reclaiming its ancestral home in Bristol, which contains spiritually important sites. The Ivy League university says the land was donated decades ago and it has owned the legal title for more than 60 years.

Winds of Thunder, the tribe's sagamore, or chief of chiefs, called the land its "spiritual high grounds" and said it wants the land back because it was its principal village.