Protesters Arrested After Deadline To Leave Dakota Pipeline Protest Camp Passes

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -Authorities in North Dakota say they have been negotiating with the last people left at an encampment set up to protest the Dakota Access pipeline over how to carry out ceremonial arrests.

The Army Corps of Engineers had set a 2 p.m. deadline to close the camp near a Missouri River reservoir after it was the center of pipeline protests for months.

Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson says authorities didn't plan to negotiate after 4 p.m. But he said authorities aren't necessarily going to go in after that time to make arrests.

Most of the protesters walked out of camp earlier Wednesday, but those remaining put barbed wire across a camp entrance.

Nestor Silva, of California, says he is planning to move to a nearby camp being set up on land leased by the Cheyenne River Sioux. Law enforcement say they expect to make some arrests, but Silva says he doesn't expect any trouble.