In a statement issued Sunday afternoon, Ward said he was working with local and federal authorities to resolve the situation as quickly and peacefully as possible.
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Militia members camped out at the refuge, lighting fires and draping a USA flag over the sign for the Malheur National Wildlife refuge building.
Ritzheimer also posted a video to his personal account on December 26 from Burns, Ore.along with Cooper, asking people to support a January 2 protest on behalf of an eastern OR ranching family facing jail time for setting fire to federally owned land. But a federal judge ruled in October that their terms were too short under USA minimum sentencing law and ordered them back to prison for about 4 years each.
After Saturday’s rally some of the protesters traveled 30 miles southeast of Burns and took over the unstaffed headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, an area in Harney County operated by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service.
Bundy said the group planned to stay at the refuge indefinitely. Ammon Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights, is among those organizing the opposition at the wildlife refuge. “I understand the land needs to be used wisely, but that’s what we as stewards need to do. I guess they figured they’re going to be there for whatever time it takes_and I don’t know what that means”, Cliven Bundy said.
Despite the Hammond’s compliance with the judge, the Bundy family and militia members are demanding they be released. He said “this is not a time to stand down”. We need to defend our rights.
Nevertheless, Bundy stressed to The Daily Caller in a phone interview that those occupying the refuge are armed but not violent.
The mother of one of his kids is now involved with an officer, and they chose to send their children to another town after feeling threatened by an angry protester, Landon said.
The group of armed militants says they’re not afraid to use force if the government tries to kick them off the property.
A lawyer for the Hammonds last week distanced his clients from the Bundys, writing they did not speak for the Hammonds.
“I’m hoping most of it’s just muscle, trying to push”, he said. “Many of the species migrating through or breeding here are highlighted as priority species in national bird conservation plans”.
They claim to be supporting Dwight and Steven Hammond who were sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of arson after starting a fire that burned 130 acres in 2001 to cover up poaching.
Tension has been building for weeks in the Burns, Oregon, area over the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond. In particular, the Hammonds’ new sentences touched a nerve with far right groups who repudiate United States federal authority.
A tense standoff at an OR wildlife center led by armed, primarily white, anti-government protesters captivated social media on Sunday as users alternately debated their motives and ridiculed the protesters.
On Sunday, Ammon Bundy told a group of reporters that the militia hasn’t heard from law enforcement since taking over the building.
According to Bundy, his goal and the goal of the militia is to get the federal government to turn over the land to local Oregonian ranchers, miners, and loggers.
The prosecutor said witnesses saw the Hammonds illegally slaughter a herd of deer on public land.
“I feel we are in a situation where if we do not do something, if we do not take a hard stand, we’ll be in a position where we’ll be no longer able to do so”, he said.
“We pose no threat to anybody”, Bundy said. “He said it would be up to we the people to govern ourselves”. “What we’re doing is in accordance with the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land”, he said.
Bundy said that while the occupiers, who included his brother Ryan Bundy, were not looking to hurt anyone, they would not rule out violence if police tried to remove them, the Oregonian reported.
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“The facility has been the tool to do all the tyranny that has been placed upon the Hammonds”, Bundy told the Oregonian.
