Actress Shailene Woodley has been arrested, and she live streamed the whole thing.

The Fault in Our Stars actress Shailene Woodley was arrested on Sunday during a protest in North Dakota, and livestreamed the ordeal via Facebook.

The 24-year-old was at the Standing Rock Indian reservation, protesting the construction of an oil pipeline project that will cross four states. She asked her mother to film as she was being arrested.

Native Americans have said the construction of the pipeline will violate sacred land and do damage to the environment, but on Sunday, the US Court of Appeals denied their request to halt the project.

Police say Woodley was one of 27 people arrested for criminal trespassing and rioting.

Woodley says she was peacefully walking back to her car when "they grabbed me by my jacket and said that I wasn't allowed to continue... and they have giant guns and batons and zip ties and they are not letting me go".

She said they chose to arrest her "because I'm well known, because I have 40,000 people watching".

Since the video was streamed to Facebook, it's been viewed over 2.5 million times, and has attracted tens and thousands of comments.

Police confirmed in a press conference that the 27 people arrested were trespassing on private land, and  Cass County sherrif Paul Laney described the incident as a "riot" rather than a protest.

"Today, 27 arrests were made, not because we wanted that to happen, but because those people on scene chose for that to happen," he said.

"All 27 were arrested on the same charges — engaging in a riot and criminal trespass. She [Woodley] was one of 27 [and] was no different to any of the others."

It is not yet clear whether Woodley has been released.