1/8 Fireworks fill the night sky above Oceti Sakowin Camp as activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline near the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it will not grant an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending a months-long standof.

Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

2/8 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 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

3/8 Native American 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 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

This is an advertisement.
To view next image, click on the next button.

4/8 Walks With Pride of the Lakota Nation speaks during an interfaith ceremony at Oceti Sakowin amp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

5/8 Walks With Pride of the Lakota Nation speaks during an interfaith ceremony at Oceti Sakowin amp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

6/8 Native American 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 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

This is an advertisement.
To view next image, click on the next button.

7/8 Political activist Cornel West (C) walks with veterans and activists at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON

8/8 Activists hold hands during a prayer circle as they try to surround the entire camp at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on 4 December, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON

In pictures: The amazing moment when Standing Rock activists realised they'd won

Catch Team @CatchNews | Updated on: 5 December 2016, 17:37 IST

On Sunday, Native Americans and environmentalists celebrated the news that Obama\'s administration would halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

The pipeline was set to cross the river half a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation border.

For months, tribal members protested the project, worried about the fact that a pipeline breach would threaten their drinking water supplies and disturb their ancestral land.

As word spread that US Army Corps of Engineers denied the grant for the pipeline, protesters broke out in jubilant celebration, with fireworks displayed around their tents. Some gathered around their campfires singing and cheering, while others marched carrying mirrored shields.

This has been a huge win for the historically persecuted Native American population, especially since they have been protesting for days and that too in sub zero temperatures.

(Text by Sehar Qazi, Photo curation by Vikas Kumar)

Native Americans Dakota pipeline Standing Rock Sioux reservation border Obama fireworks mirrored shields

Catch Team