Native Americans protest against Keystone XL oil pipeline

Native Americans in the United States have demonstrated in the capital to protest against the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The protesters from several western states joined with cowboys from Nebraska, Texas and South Dakota in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.

The week-long protest has been organized by the Cowboy and Indian Alliance, a group of ranchers, farmers and indigenous leaders.

The demonstrators urged President Barack Obama to protect their land and water by rejecting the oil project.

The 2,700-kilometre TransCanada pipeline would move bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

“We came to D.C. with a lot of resolve to make sure that the president sees our faces, and sees the images of cowboys and tribes working together,” Nebraska political activist Jane Kleeb said.

“We think those messages from the communities that will be directly impacted will stay with the president, whether he’s making a decision today or a decision in 2015.”

Polls have shown support for the pipeline in the United States — even in Nebraska, where the project is ensnared in a legal dispute.

However, a minority of Nebraska landowners have kept up a fight against the project, with some success in an ongoing court case.

According to critics, the oil pipeline will only deepen the United States’ dependence on fossil fuels, hasten the effects of climate change and violate landowners’ rights.