Hundreds of Native Americans staged a peaceful march up a North Dakota highway Saturday, renewing their vow to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline in the wake of violent clashes this week.

On Thursday, state police, county sheriff’s deputies from four other states and the North Dakota National Guard members made more than 140 arrests, using pepper spray, rubber bullets and Tasers to clear protesters from a camp they set up on the path of the oil pipeline, which is under construction. More than 50 people were treated for injuries... The march, which was accompanied by a prayer circle, was aimed in part at letting it be known that the protest movement was a peaceful one despite the flare-up of violence... [Several] hundred Native Americans and their supporters...gathered around a group of elders as drummers pounded out “encouragement songs” and speaker after speaker admonished the younger generation to refrain from provocative actions...

Protesters said the events of the last week will not deter them. “The fight is far from over,” said Kandi Mossett of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “It’s really hard for us to remain in prayer and ceremony when they’re using violence against us. But we will. We will be like stones.”