Beyond the Hammonds’ case, Bundy and his brother Ryan are demanding the federal government relinquish control of the Malheur reserve.
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My name is David Ward, and I am the Sheriff of Harney County. “I was upset. I’d worked a really long time out in the community trying to build their trust”. Go home to your families.
Now, it’s time for the protesters to end the siege, the sheriff said.
The protestors holed up inside the refuge – a loose-knit grouping of anti-government farmers, ranchers and survivalists – said they planned no violence but would not rule it out if authorities stormed the site.
After a rally for the Hammonds on Saturday, armed militia, including sons of Cliven Bundy – who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights in Nevada in 2014 – initiated the occupation of the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
“They have litigated this matter within the federal courts for over five years and, in every instance, have followed the order of the court without incident or violation”, their attorneys said in a statement. Bundy didn’t say what the group would do if they didn’t get a response.
Reporters have seen roughly 20 people at the remote national facility.
A lawyer for the Hammonds was quoted on Monday as saying the ranchers will ask President Obama for clemency. Despite these claims, he asserts, “these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States”.
The FBI said in a statement issued on Sunday it is taking the lead in working to bring a peaceful solution to the situation at the OR refuge but declined to release specific information due to safety considerations.
He said that law enforcement has learned how to handle these types of situations in which a law may have been broken but there hasn’t been any eruption of violence and no threats to lives yet.
It took an unfortunate turn when some of those people broke off and began an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Now Mr Bundy’s two sons are leading the push in Oregon. Ammon Bundy has previously called on members of militia groups to take a stand with those at the refuge.
“We will be here as long as it takes”, protest spokesman Ammon Bundy told CNN by phone from inside the refuge. “The last thing we need is some type of confrontation”.
“Myself and many, many, many others for weeks on end put all the energy we possibly could to try to keep them from having to go back into this prison, and we feel we have exhausted all prudent measures and have been ignored”, said Mr. Bundy, who said the group is called Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.
“I also think that the sheriff and the county and the city are all doing all that they can to manage the Bundy’s self-serving attention grabbing efforts in a way that prevents Harney County from becoming a rallying cry for every anti-government person in America”.
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The protesters are complaining about the amount of land controlled by the federal government as well as the sentencing of two local ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond. A judge ruled in October that their prior terms for the arson – three months for the father and one year for the son – were too short under federal law.
