After Nevada rancher Ammon Bundy and allegedly armed supporters of his Ranchers’ Rights movement occupied a federal wildlife refuge building in OR, social media users Sunday took to Twitter to express their outrage over the designation of the group as a militia instead of terrorists.
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Cliven Bundy staged in April a year ago an armed standoff with federal agents in Bunkerville, Nevada, over grazing rights on federal land.
Mr Bundy has refused to say how many men were at the property, which is being guarded by pickup trucks and armed men wearing camouflage.
In a statement issued late on Saturday, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said multiple agencies were trying to resolve the issue and he advised caution.
One of the protesters occupying the national wildlife refuge in OR says the ultimate goal is to turn the land over to local authorities so people can use it free of federal oversight, according to the Associated Press.
The White House on Monday referred to an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in OR as a “local law enforcement matter”.
You say you’re there to stand in solidarity with local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, who are returning to federal prison Monday because they were convicted of burning federal land. “I don’t know those people that well, except that I just see from the outside that we have a lot of things in common”, said Dwight Hammond’s wife, Susan.
Harney County Sheriff David Ward had pointed words for the protesters who have come to his small, rural county of about 7,000 people. The protesters went to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday following a peaceful rally in support of two OR ranchers facing additional prison time for arson.
The Hammonds had distanced themselves from the takeover of the office building at the refuge, but Ammon Bundy and his supporters insisted they were there for the duration.
“We are simply going to restore the rights back to the people of the counties”, Ammon Bundy told The Daily Caller, leaving it unclear what will end the occupation.
The incident – the latest chapter in a longstanding conflict over federal land use in Western states that dates back to the Sagebrush Rebellion – points to an evolution in federal law enforcement’s response after tragedies that resulted from similar standoffs in the 1990s, experts say. Both were convicted in 2012 of starting fires on public lands.
“They can’t defend themselves, they can’t ask for help”.
In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was seeking a “peaceful resolution to the situation”, but offered few details. Cruz and other candidates had initially supported Bundy, but many backed off after the rancher made racially charged remarks.
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the northwestern state of OR had been the site of a stand-off between local ranchers and the government over the use of the public lands for grazing livestock. “The battle was brought to us”, said Dan Nichols, a county commissioner who is a neighbor of the Hammond family.
Others, including Cornell William Brooks, president of the NAACP, noted how differently protestors of color are perceived versus the white, armed group in Oregon.
The group’s spokesman is Ammon Bundy, the son of anti-government Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.
The government has yet to give a response, a non-action that has many shooting a quizzical glance at a nation quick to tear gas residents protesting the death of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement.
The have served jail time for the previous offences, but a federal judge has more recently said their terms were too short, violating mandatory minimum sentences.
Landon, the longtime Burns resident, said he sympathizes with the Bundys’ frustrations.
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First, they want the federal government to relinquish control of the wildlife refuge so “people can reclaim their resources”, he told CNN early Monday.
