Protesters say the threat the controversial North Dakota Access Pipeline project poses to native water and land is a human rights issue.

The local Indian restaurant will fill the space left behind by District 2 Bar & Grille.

Put on the stretchy pants and dig in.

Merzi, a fast-casual Indian restaurant, officially opens today at 415 7th Street NW in Penn Quarter — to celebrate, the restaurant will be offering free meals to those who come by between 11 a.m. and noon this morning. Self-defined by founder/owner Qaiser (Kaz) Kazmi as the “Chipotle of Indian food,” the restaurant serves a customizable plate of Indian food that will easily appeal to even the novice Indian food eater.

This past Saturday, the Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company launched its 7th Annual Fall Festival of Indian Arts. That date, October 2, is the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth, and Dakshina celebrated the occasion with a poetry reading from local spoken word artist, Gowri Koneswaran, and a classical Indian recital from sitarist Alif Laila. The festival continues this weekend, with two nights of dance on Friday and Saturday at U Street’s historic Lincoln Theatre.