11 beautiful photos of the Standing Rock celebrations

Native Americans and their supporters have celebrated a victory in the Standing Rock pipeline saga.

Celebrations abounded after an agency of the US Department of Defence announced it had turned down permission for a controversial pipeline passing close to a Sioux reservation.

Activists said the decision was a victory for grassroots activism by and on behalf of indigenous people and environmentalists.

Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network told the Independent:

It was the sheer determination that was shown, the sheer numbers of people who have come to the site, including the veterans, who came today.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said:

We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing.

The protest project received wider recognition in its early stages when Senator Bernie Sanders drew mainstream attention to the issue.

Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said:

Today’s unfortunate decision sends a very chilling signal to others who want to build infrastructure in this country. Roads, bridges, transmission lines, pipelines, wind farms and water lines will be very difficult, if not impossible, to build when criminal behaviour is rewarded this way.

Here are a selection of images from the celebrations yesterday:

1.

Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Native American and other activists celebrate on 4 Decembe 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

2.

Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Nation listens to speakers during an interfaith ceremony at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

3.​

Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Fireworks fill the night sky above Oceti Sakowin Camp as activists celebrate on 4 December 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

4.

Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Native American and other activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

5.

Picture: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

US Navy veteran John Gutekanst from Athens, Ohio, waves an American flag as an activist approaches the police barricade with his hands up on a bridge near Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

6.

Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images

An Native American activist rides down fom a ridge which overlooks Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December 2016.

7.

Picture: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Activists celebrate at Oceti Sakowin Camp on 4 December 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

8.

Picture: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Activists celebrate at Oceti Sakowin Camp on 4 December 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

9.

Picture: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Activists and veterans hold hands as they move a crowd back from a police barricade on a bridge near Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December 2016.

10.

Picture: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Activists celebrate at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December 2016.

11.

Picture:

An activist celebrates at Oceti Sakowin Camp on 4 December 2016.

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