A man watches a building burn after it was set alight by protesters preparing to evacuate the main opposition camp against the Dakota Access oil pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, US, yesterday.
North Dakota: Protesters near the site of the Dakota Access pipeline are bracing for a stand-off with law enforcement as they face orders to evacuate a camp that has served as the base of their opposition to the multibillion-dollar project.
Native Americans and environmental activists have lived at the Oceti Sakowin camp in North Dakota for months, fighting the construction of the pipeline that they say threatens the water resources of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and sacred land.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and the US Army Corps of Engineers have set a Wednesday afternoon deadline for protesters to clear out of the camp in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, which is on Army Corps land.
However, some protesters intend to remain, forcing a potential showdown that could end in arrests of many protesters, law enforcement and camp leaders said on Tuesday.
"A lot of them are going to stay and they're not going to give up, no matter what army they bring in to make people back off," Lewis Grassrope, a leader at the camp, said in a telephone interview.
Law enforcement officials were planning how to handle yesterday's evacuation deadline of 2pm local time, said Maxine Herr, a spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriff's Department. "There are certainly those that are planning to stay," Herr said. "As much as they are tearing down, they are building."
The protest garnered support from Hollywood celebrities and US military veterans, with thousands traveling to the camp last year to protest the pipeline being built by Energy Transfer Partners LP. An Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment. The mood in the camp was jubilant in December when the Army Corps ruled against an easement to drill under Lake Oahe, the final link in the 1,885-km project.
