After standoff, pipeline protesters stay nearby

Protesters trying to block the Dakota Access oil pipeline were staying near their encampment Saturday following two days of confrontations that resulted in more than a hundred arrests and a barricade of burned-out vehicles blocking a North Dakota highway.

A handful of people walked along the highway early Saturday as campfires burned at the nearby camp where hundreds of protesters are staying. About half a dozen law enforcement vehicles were parked along the highway near Cannon Ball, a town about 50 miles south of Bismarck.

There was no immediate word on protesters’ plans at the site, but an afternoon rally at the state Capitol in Bismarck is expected to feature landowners and community members encouraging supporters to take action however they can.

As many as 50 protesters gathered Friday behind heavy plywood sheets and the burned vehicles, facing a line of concrete barriers, military vehicles and police.