Dakota Access pipeline protesters 'will disobey federal directive to leave camps by December 5' as tensions escalate and temperatures plummet

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Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters will not follow a government directive to leave the federal land where hundreds have camped for months, organizers said Saturday.

An area where protesters have been camping for months will be closed off to the public on December 5, the US Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday.

A letter from Colonel John Henderson cited safety concerns and said anyone found north of the Cannonball River, which includes the Oceti Sakowin camp, could be prosecuted with trespassing.

Dave Archambault, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, released a statement in response that read: 'Our Tribe is deeply disappointed in this decision by the United States, but our resolve to protect our water is stronger than ever.' 

North Dakota officials are encouraging people to respect the directive, but protest organizer Dallas Goldtooth says they will not move, adding that the government's request will most likely escalate already rocky tensions.

The Oceti Sakowin camp is on Corps land in southern North Dakota, where the vast majority of the several hundred people fighting against the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline have created a self-sustaining community and put up semi-permanent structures to gear up for the harsh winter.

The final segment of the pipeline, which is supposed to pass under a Missouri River reservoir, has been delayed while the Corps consults with the tribe, who believe the project could harm drinking water and Native American cultural sites.

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 The US Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday that an area in North Dakota, which includes the Oceti Sakowin camp (pictured), will be closed off from the public on December 5

A letter from Colonel John Henderson cited safety concerns and said anyone found north of the Cannonball River can be charged with trespassing after next Monday

The letter was written by Colonel John Henderson (left) and Dave Archambault (right) of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe released response expressing his disappointment

Colonel John Henderson said a free speech zone will be set up south of the river, but one protest organizer said the directive would likely escalate rocky tensions

Last month, the Corps said it would not evict the encampment, which started as overflow from smaller private and permitted protest sites nearby and began growing in August.  

The letter, dated on Friday, however, states the closure is necessary to protect the general public from violent confrontations between protesters and authorities.

It also says that the area does not have necessary first responder services or facilities to protect people from illness, injury or death during North Dakota's harsh winter months.

The letter said 'no member of the general public' will be allowed on the land without the possibility of being prosecuted for trespassing.

A free speech zone will be set up south of the river.

But Goldtooth, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, believes many people will choose not to move to another site, with protesters building shelters and teepees to prepare for the winter.

Goldtooth also said the government's request will escalate already rocky tensions, calling the directive 'an atrocious example that colonization has not ended for us here as indigenous people.'

On Friday, Archambault, whose tribe offered protesters land on its reservation south of the river earlier this fall, said 'our resolve to protect our water is stronger than ever.'   

For months, opponents of the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline have stayed at the Oceti Sakowin camp to protest the pipeline (pictured)

Archambault called on people to issue an appeal to President Barack Obama along with the Corps (pictured, protesters in September)

Archambault issued a statement in response to the letter, expressing his disappointment while calling people to issue an appeal to President Barack Obama along with the Corps. 

He wrote: 'We ask that the United States stop the pipeline and move it outside our treaty lands.

'It is both unfortunate and ironic that this announcement comes the day after this country celebrates Thanksgiving – a historic exchange of goodwill between Native Americans and the first immigrants from Europe. 

'Although the news is saddening, it is not at all surprising given the last 500 years of the treatment of our people. 

'We have suffered much, but we still have hope that the President will act on his commitment to close the chapter of broken promises to our people and especially our children.'

Officers have used tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and water cannons in recent skirmishes, while authorities say protesters assaulted officers with rocks and burning logs.

Obama raised the possibility of rerouting the pipeline in that area earlier this month, something Kelcy Warren, CEO of Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, said was not an option from the company's standpoint.

Obama said his administration is monitoring the 'challenging situation' but would 'let it play out for several more weeks.'

Some of the protests have resulted in violent confrontations and hundreds of arrests, and officers have used tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray and water cannons in recent skirmishes, while authorities say protesters assaulted officers with rocks and burning logs.  

A clash earlier this week near the main protest camp left a police officer and several protesters injured, including Sophia Wilansky, who suffered a serious arm injury and is still in a Minneapolis hospital.

Shailene Woodley participated in protests on Thanksgiving Day. She was arrested in October and pleaded not guilty to criminal trespass and engaging in a riot

'It's the federal government's job to peacefully close the camp because it allowed people to stay there in the first place,' Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a statement Saturday.

'Our state and local law enforcement agencies continue to do all they can to keep private property and public infrastructure free from unpermitted protest activities, and its past time that the federal government provides the law enforcement resources... to enforce their own order to vacate,' he said.

Republican U.S. Senator John Hoeven and Democratic U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said the protesters need to move for public safety.

'The well-being and property of ranchers, farmers and everyone else living in the region should not be threatened by protesters who are willing to commit acts of violence,' Hoeven said in a statement Friday. 

He also called on the Obama administration to let work on the pipeline move forward, saying, 'this difficult situation has gone on too long and we need to get it resolved.'

Heitkamp said the Corps' order is 'a needed step to support the safety of residents, workers, protesters and law enforcement.'

Sophia Wilansky suffered a serious arm injury during a clash earlier this week near the main protest camp

A spokeswoman from the Hennepin County Medical Center says Wilansky, who is from New York, has been upgraded from serious to satisfactory condition