Shailene Woodley faces jail time if trespassing and riot charges stick

Actress Shailene Woodley is facing 60 days behind bars and fines if she's convicted of criminal trespass and engaging in a riot.

The Divergent star and 26 other activists were arrested during a protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota on Monday (10Oct16).

Woodley livestreamed the protest and her arrest on Facebook and spent several hours in custody before her release on Tuesday (11Oct16). Now she is scheduled to appear in court in Mandan, North Dakota on 24 October (16) to answer criminal trespass and riot charges.

She returned to social media hours after her release and offered up a poetic statement about the protest, writing: "One day, baby, we'll sing our poetry. the words dripping from our tongues wet with ripened patience. And the lyrics, the sweet fruits born from the seeds our aging hands are now sowing."

Monday's peaceful protest followed a federal judge's ruling on Sunday (09Oct16) that rejected the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request to halt construction on the $3.8 billion pipeline, claiming it could taint water supplies and encroach on tribal burial sites.

Protests supporting the tribe have been going on for months. Shailene has been campaigning against the Dakota Access Pipeline for much of this year (16), and previously joined Rosario Dawson at a demonstration in New York in August (16), when they held up signs and marched with others committed to halting the project.

She was one of around 100 demonstrators who staged the peaceful protest in Sioux County on the site of the pipeline, which will transport crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.