Actress and activist Shailene Woodley has been arrested for criminal trespassing after protesting a controversial pipeline in North Dakota.

The Divergent star was among around 100 demonstrators who staged the peaceful protest on the construction site of the Dakota Access Pipeline in Sioux County on Monday morning (10Oct16), reports TMZ.com.

The gathering at Standing Rock took place a day after judges at a U.S. Federal Appeals Court rejected calls to halt the building of the pipeline, which will transport crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.

The pipeline plans have caused controversy as it interferes with sacred Native American territory and burial grounds.

Early on Monday, Shailene took to Facebook and shared a video of herself en route to Standing Rock as she prepared to put up a fight.

She captioned the footage, "Back at standing rock. Last night, US court of appeals decided to deny injunction to halt #DAPL construction. On our way to the front lines now."

She and a number of other protesters were subsequently arrested following a confrontation with authorities.

The incident was broadcast on Facebook Live, with footage showing the 24-year-old as she demanded to know why she was one of few being taken into custody, when so many others had been trespassing, too.

She also insisted she had moved off the land when police asked her to.

Shailene has been campaigning against the Dakota Access Pipeline for months, and previously joined Daredevil star Rosario Dawson at a protest in New York in August (16), when they held up signs and marched with others committed to halting the project.

Shailene also posted videos from those protests on Facebook.

In one, she said, "We need to stand together. We need to wake up. We cannot let the fossil fuel industry continue to walk over all people in this country and especially Native American people."