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Dakota Access Pipeline: Protesters clash with police

Hundreds staged demonstration against plans to pass Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

Dakota pipeline protests
Police confront protesters with rubber bullets during a protest against plans to allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to pass near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
Published On 21 Nov 2016

Protesters clashed with law enforcement officials near the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline, with at least one person arrested as protesters sought to push past a bridge on a state highway that had been blockaded since late October.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Office estimated that 400 protesters were trying to cross the bridge on state highway 1806 in what they called “an ongoing riot”. 

The Backwater Bridge has been closed since late October, when activists clashed with police in riot gear and set two trucks on fire, prompting authorities to forcibly shut down a protesters encampment nearby.

The $3.7bn Dakota Access project has been drawing steady opposition from Native American and environmental activists since the summer.

Dakota pipeline protests
A protester is given medical attention during the protest. [Stephanie Keith /Reuters]
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Dakota pipeline protests
The clashes came as protesters sought to push past a bridge on a state highway that had been blockaded since late October. [AP]
Dakota pipeline protests
A rubber bullet and a wound caused by it are displayed for the camera during the protest. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
Dakota pipeline protests
Law enforcement officials had formed a blockade to prevent the protesters' and appeared to be using water cannon as temperatures dipped below freezing. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
Dakota pipeline protests
The clash was at the Backwater Bridge, near where protesters had set up camp on private property owned by the pipeline developer, Energy Transfer Partners, before they were forcibly removed last month. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
Dakota pipeline protests
The protest was also about a mile from an uncompleted section under Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir, where work has been on hold by order of federal agencies. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
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Dakota pipeline protests
Police used water cannon on protesters during the standoff. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
Dakota pipeline protests
Protesters sit in silence during a demonstration against plans to pass the Dakota Access Pipeline. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]
Dakota pipeline protests
The 1,200-mile, four-state pipeline is intended to carry oil from western North Dakota to a shipping point in Illinois. [Stephanie Keith/Reuters]