Seneca Indians set bonfires and threw rocks along the New York State Thruway - shutting down a 30-mile stretch for more than 10 hours - in a protest over new taxes on tobacco and fuel sales on reservations.
It was the second protest in as many days.Fourteen people had been arrested by Thursday morning. Trooper Charlene Mahoney said 11 people were charged with disorderly conduct and three with reckless endangerment.
The protest closed about 30 miles of the Thruway, which borders the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, between Hamburg, just south of Buffalo, and Dunkirk.
The highway was closed around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The protest was over about eight hours later, but the highway was not reopened until about 6 a.m. Thursday because it had to be cleaned up, said State Police Sgt. Gregory Lang.
At least two state troopers were injured and were in fair condition Thursday. One was hit by a car driven by a protester into the crowd; the other was struck in the face with a piece of wood.
Several Senecas were also hit by the car, but they were not seriously injured, Lang said.
At least 100 protesters set fires along the Thruway, threw rocks from overpasses, and set off fireworks late Wednesday and early Thursday.
Early Tuesday, about 70 Senecas burned tires, uprooted tree stumps and other debris along the Thruway. The fire closed one eastbound lane for at least eight hours, Lang said.
The protests were prompted by an appeal's court ruling last week that the state can tax cigarettes and gasoline sold by reservation retailers to non-Indians. Sales to American Indians are not taxed.
Without taxes, Seneca retailers can sell cigarettes for 40 to 50 cents a pack less than stores off the reservations.