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MORTON COUNTY — Work stopped Tuesday at the site where hundreds of Standing Rock Sioux tribal members and supporters are protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the reservation boundary.

The work stoppage gave law enforcement, tribal and state officials time to plan how to manage the protest, with numbers swelling by the hour as busloads of Sioux and others arriving to join the anti-pipeline movement. Arrests are occurring almost daily.

Workers were instructed to leave their equipment late Monday after youthful protesters walked onto the work site and surrounded the machinery. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the mix of people around the machinery caused him to stop work until an improved plan for safety could be developed.

Kirchmeier said he didn’t know whether work would resume because some options were still in flux Tuesday evening. One option was for the private landowner to allow his fence to be moved back into his property to give protesters more room to assemble off the highway.

Kirchmeier met with Standing Rock Sioux officials in the morning and with state officials at the governor’s office Tuesday afternoon before returning to the department headquarters to brief patrol on how and when work will continue.