Police in the US state of North Dakota engaged in a tense standoff with oil-pipeline protesters, attempting to clear them from a public road and off private property.
Police used a sound cannon to disperse protesters yesterday, some of whom had moved closer to the construction area of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the subject of a months-long protest by Native Americans and their supporters.
"There have been arrests made," said Dallas Goldtooth, a protester at the scene of the standoff, said in a Facebook post.
The protesters created a barricade with tires and wooden poles -- briefly lighting it on fire -- as police in riot helmets moved slowly toward them in a long line and told them to disperse via loudspeaker.
The protesters were attempting to stop Energy Transfer Partners's construction of the pipeline, Goldtooth said, after it resumed following courts' refusals to halt the project.
"We all are aware that this is an arrestable situation for everybody in this space. That's what we've been told. So we're just doing our best to hold the line," Goldtooth posted.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation is close to the pipeline's route, has objected to the project, saying it would damage its water supply by crossing the nearby Missouri River and would destroy sacred Native American sites.
The standoff has grown into a larger protest movement in the United States, drawing in Indian tribes, environmentalists and advocates for Native Americans.
The tribe criticized the sheriff's actions yesterday. Spokeswoman Sue Evans told AFP that law enforcement was employing "militarized vehicles and equipment."
The tribe has asked the Obama administration to intervene to stop the pipeline construction and for the Department of Justice to investigate "law enforcement abuses at the site," Evans said.
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