Sioux tribal activists faced off against oil companies and local police in the northern US, and managed to put at least a temporary halt to construction of an oil pipeline that's running alongside their reservation.

Dozens of protesters have been arrested since demonstrations started heating up over the weekend.  This has included activists on horseback riding in the way of construction teams, making their way to the Missouri River which cuts across much of the north and central US - and which the pipeline will crossover twice.  The Standing Rock Sioux tribe sued the pipeline company seeking to stop construction; the company counter-sued seeking to stop the protests.  Then the Oglala tribe came to support their brothers.

With busloads of protesters arriving on the hour on Tuesday (including the actress from the "Divergent" movies!), officials halted work on the pipeline to give law enforcement and tribal leaders some room on how to manage the growing numbers.  They held a meeting at the governor's office, and unlike the bad old days of the 1970s authorities are figuring out ways to give the tribal protesters more room.

"Basically, what we talked about at the meeting was how to deescalate tensions between the pipeline workers and the protesters, and us, I guess.  One option is to give them more land and more comfort, room for tents, water, a dumpster, that kind of thing," said Morton County, North Dakota Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.  "Ideally, there would be ample room to move the hundreds of cars, pickups and enforcement vehicles off the roadway, too," he added.

Not everyone was working in the spirit of cooperation.  Protest organizer Mekasi Horinek of the group Oklahoma Bold  spotted ten private security types (goons) strapped with .40 caliber Glocks.  "We're here in prayer and occupying that site," Horinek said.  "We asked them to disarm; we're out here to be peaceful and they're armed."

The Dakota Access Pipeline project is meant to move hundreds of thousands of gallons of light-sweet crude oil per day from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to existing pipelines in Chicago, hundreds of miles to the southeast.  Last month, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe was stunned to learn that the US Army Corps of Engineers had given its approval for the pipeline to run within a half-mile of the reservation - without giving consultation to the elders or obtaining their consent.  Opponents say the project would disturb sacred sites and any leaks could adversely affect drinking water on the reservation and for people downstream.  The company denies this, and says the pipeline would include safeguards such as leak detection equipment.