Social Photos: Residents Protest Montauk Dune Project

Photo: Instagram

Local residents rallied at the Montauk beach once again on Sunday to protest the U.S. Army Corps beach project started earlier this month.

A total of about 150 protesters at South Edison Beach held hands to spell out “#SANDONLY” and carried signs saying “Save Montauk.”

Last week, several local protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct after refusing to leave the beach after police were called during the project.

There were no arrests reported on Sunday, and no construction was being done.

Over 250 residents packed Tuesday’s town board meeting in order to asked officials to look into possibly stopping or delaying the project at the Montauk beach.

The project, conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, involved burying a total of 14,000 large sandbags along 3,100 feet of Montauk beach to make artificial dunes over 15 feet high.

The project costs a total of $8.4 million and was started in order to protect downtown Montauk after superstorm Sandy hit the area back in 2012.

The board voted unanimously to approve the project and were not sure if the project could not be stopped because the town is now under contract with the Army Corps.

Opponents of the project have said that the project will destroy the natural dunes and ruin the look of the beach, and have protested on the beach, resulting in several arrests for disorderly conduct.

Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell told attendees that the board first has to hear from both the Army Corps and the D.E.C. about stopping or temporarily delaying the work before the board can discuss it.

“The board can’t make a decision based on a guess. We’ve got to know what the facts are. There are still some questions that have to be answered that will be answered on Monday,” Cantwell told 27east. “I’m doing our due diligence to the extent that we need to do that.”

Several locals took posted about the protest on social media using the hashtag “#SANDONLY”.

Scroll down through the Storify below to see some images shared on social media from Sunday’s protest.