HAMBURG, N.Y. -- Authorities Thursday reopened the New York State Thruway near Buffalo after a violent protest by Seneca Indians protesting a state court tax ruling.
Officials had closed a 31-mile stretch of the highway between Hamburg and Dunkirk at 6:30 Wednesday night as protesters set fires along the roadway and threw debris from overpasses.
Several people, including two state troopers, were injured Wednesday during a confrontation on a bridge over the highway, which runs through the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, the Buffalo News reported.
For several days, the Indians have been been protesting a ruling by the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court that said New York may collect taxes on goods -- mostly gasoline and cigarettes -- sold to non- Indians at businesses on reservations.
Sales to Indians on reservations are exempt from taxes under treaties dating back to the 18th century.
State Police said two troopers were being treated at the Erie County Medical Center, but did not disclose their names or the nature of their injuries.
Police reported 13 people, all Indians, were arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.
'Several hundred individuals congregated on two overpasses, as well as on Thruway lanes, setting fires and causing traffic to stop in both directions,' police said.
The road was reopened at 6:15 Thursday morning after crews cleaned up the mess, police said.
The News said reservation retailers are able to sell gasoline for 30 cents a gallon less than their off-reservation counterparts, and cigarettes were cheaper by as much as 50 cents a pack.
Sales jumped after the ruling as customer stockpiled the cheaper goods, and some reservation merchants raised prices to take advantage of the demand, the paper said.
Rodney Pierce, 31, a merchant on the reservation, told the paper he had no plans to charge tax on cigarettes and gasoline.
'I'm not charging any tax,' he said. 'I employ 26 members of my tribe. We all have families. We all work and reside on the reservation and would be seriously affected by the taxation.'
Another Indian, who did not give his name, told the paper, 'Get ready for a nice demonstration across the state. We're going to send a message to the (Democratic) convention that we're still here.'
