|
 Ammon Bundy, who was taken into custody with several members of
his group at a traffic stop along Highway 395, north of the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon, urged federal
authorities to let his comrades leave the compound without being
prosecuted.
"To those remaining at the refuge, I love you. Let us take this
fight from here. Please stand down... Please go home," Bundy said in
a statement read by his attorney, Michael Arnold, following a court
hearing.
A total of eight occupiers had left the compound by late on
Wednesday and three were arrested, including Jason Patrick, who had
been with Bundy's group in Oregon since the beginning and was acting
as a spokesman for the holdouts, the FBI said in a statement.
It was unclear how many people remained inside the refuge.
 Brandon Curtiss, a member of the Pacific Patriots Network, which has
been acting as an intermediary between law enforcement and Bundy's
supporters, said the FBI informed him of Patrick's arrest.
The three taken into custody face a federal charge of felony
conspiracy to impede federal officers.
Patrick told Reuters by telephone on Wednesday that some protesters
were leaving, but rejected the word "surrender."
"I don’t know what surrendering looks like," he said. "They’re
walking through the checkpoint and going home. That's what I've
heard unless I'm being lied to."
Citing the investigation, authorities declined to say what led to
the fatal shooting of a member of Bundy's group, identified by
activists as Robert LaVoy Finicum, a rancher who acted as a
spokesman for the occupiers. Bundy's brother, Ryan, was wounded
during the traffic stop.
The protesters were each charged in U.S. District Court in Portland
with conspiracy to use force, intimidation or threats to impede
federal officers from discharging their duties.
The defendants were ordered held without bail until a detention
hearing set for Friday.
The Malheur takeover, which started on Jan. 2 with at least a dozen
armed men, was a flare-up in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a
decades-old conflict over federal control of millions of acres in
the West. 'THIS CAN'T HAPPEN IN AMERICA'
At a news conference earlier in the day, state and federal
authorities pleaded with the remaining occupiers to quit their
protest, saying they were free to leave.
[to top of second column] |
"Let me be clear: It is the actions and choices of the armed
occupiers of the refuge that have led us to where we are today,"
said Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI's office in
Portland. "They had ample opportunity to leave the refuge peacefully
and as the FBI and our partners have clearly demonstrated, actions
are not without consequences."
Federal officials say they had probable cause to arrest Finicum, who
told NBC News earlier this month that he would rather die than be
detained.
At the same news conference, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, his
voice breaking, said, "I'm disappointed that a traffic stop
yesterday that was supposed to bring peaceful resolution to this
ended badly. Multiple law enforcement agencies put a lot of work
into putting together the best tactical plan they could, to take
these guys down peacefully.
"This can't happen anymore. This can't happen in America and it
can't happen in Harney County," Ward added.
Reactions to the takeover from residents in Burns, about 30 miles
(48 km) from the refuge, have included sympathy for the imprisoned
local ranchers whose plight began the protest, to distrust of the
federal government, and dismay at the armed occupation by
individuals seen as outsiders.
Many residents said an armed protest was taking legitimate
grievances too far, and leaders of a Native American tribe have
urged the occupiers to leave, saying they were scaring the community
and that the protesters’ ignorance of the region’s real history was
offensive.
(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Daniel Wallis
in Denver, Dan Cook in Portland, Jonathan Allen, Melissa Fares, Amy
Tennery and Ed Tobin in New York and Andy Sullivan and Julia Edwards
in Washington Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Trott and
Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
