Tensions over the treatment of two cattle ranchers in Oregon
escalated into an armed standoff over the weekend when members of a
rightwing militia occupied a wildlife refuge and threatened a
confrontation with federal authorities.
Ammon Bundy, the son of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was at
the heart of a notorious showdown over cattle grazing rights last year,
was among at least a dozen heavily armed men who seized the headquarters
of the Malheur wildlife refuge on Saturday afternoon and said they
would stay indefinitely.
They occupied the building after an earlier peaceful protest over the
treatment of two ranchers, Dwight Hammond and his son Steve, who are
facing custodial sentences related to arson charges. Both are due to
report to prison on Monday.
The occupation appears to have begun at about 2pm. Two hours later,
the Guardian approached the refuge, which lies about 60 miles south of
the town of Burns and is only accessible via a lakeside road slick with
ice and banked with snow.
There were no law enforcement agents visible in the area
around the refuge. A man with a goatee beard and wraparound sunglasses
stood guard, armed with an AR-15-style rifle, and refused entry to the
federally owned facility.
He declined to give his name or affiliation, citing “operational
security”. He did confirm, however, that the men – several of whom were
openly carrying assault weapons – would be camping on the site. “This
public land belongs to ‘we the people’,” he said. “We’ll be here
enjoying the snow and the scenery.”
The Guardian was allowed to take a few photographs, and then it was
strongly advised to leave the scene. Within hours, police had descended
on the remote corner of Harney county, blocking roads and urging members
of the public to stay away.
“After the peaceful rally was completed today, a
group of outside militants drove to the Malheur wildlife refuge, where
they seized and occupied the refuge headquarters,” the sheriff, Dave
Ward, said in a statement. “A collective effort from multiple agencies
is currently working on a solution.”
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Beth
Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman in Portland, told the Associated Press
the agency was aware of the situation at the refuge.
One of the occupiers, Ryan Payne, said by telephone that they did not
intend to resort to violence, but that when local and federal
authorities arrived “whatever else is going to happen will happen”. The
men had faith in God and intended to uphold the constitution, he said.
Payne was cagey about the exact number of men involved in the
occupation. Some sources put the number as high as 150, but when the
Guardian visited earlier during the day, fewer than a dozen cars were
parked around the front entrance.
Ammon Bundy, whose father became a folk hero among rightwing
constitutionalists after his previous confrontation with federal
authorities in Nevada, appeared to be a key figure.
He called for other likeminded US citizens to travel to the refuge in
solidarity and to support what he said would be a symbolic showdown
between impoverished farmers and overzealous federal authorities.
“We’re out here because the people have been abused long enough,” he said in a video interview posted on his Facebook page on Saturday night.
Asked how he would respond to law enforcement, Bundy played down the
prospect of a confrontation, saying he and the other men posed “no
threat to anybody”. “This facility is owned by the people, and so if
they come to bring physical harm to us, then they will be doing it only
because of a facility, or a building. And I don’t believe that warrants
killing people.”
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Cliven
Bundy told Oregon Public Broadcasting on Saturday night that he had
nothing to do with the takeover of the building, but his son had felt
obliged to intervene on behalf of the Hammonds.
“That’s not exactly what I thought should happen, but I didn’t know
what to do,” he said. “You know, if the Hammonds wouldn’t stand, if the
sheriff didn’t stand, then, you know, the people had to do something.
And I guess this is what they did decide to do. I wasn’t in on that.”
Ammon Bundy and the other armed men made their move at the end of a
day of public protest over the impending imprisonment of the Hammonds,
which attracted rightwing and constitutionalist groups from around the
country to Burns, a small town in south-east Oregon.
Many local people also turned out to support the Hammond father and
son, respectively 73 and 46, popular figures in Harney county. The pair
lit several fires from the late 1990s onwards to promote the growth of
grass for their cattle, but in 1999, 2001 and 2006, the fires spread on
to neighbouring public land in the Malheur wildlife refuge.
The two were convicted of arson three years ago and served time –
Dwight Hammond three months, and his son a year. A judgeruled
subsequently that their terms had been too short under federal law and
ordered them back to prison for about four years each.
Their lawyers have indicated they plan to abide by a court ruling that they return to prison on Monday.
The rally in support of the pair saw about 300 people gather in icy
conditions in the car park of a supermarket at midday on Saturday.
Locals and representatives of the Idaho Three Percenters militia, who
have been in Burns organising around the issue for more than a month,
talked about the Hammonds’ re-imprisonment as a civil rights issue.
They then marched to the sherriff’s office, where they threw coins at the door. There was no response from the officers inside.
From there, the demonstrators made their way to Dwight Hammond’s
modest home, where the rancher told the crowd: “Remember, this is not
about me. This is about our country.”
After throwing more coins at the county courthouse a couple of blocks
away, the protesters returned to the car park and dispersed.
Some attended a community meeting at the local fairground, but it was
also around this time that Ammon Bundy and his armed associates appear
to have driven the 60 miles to the wildlife refuge, which surrounds the
Hammond ranch.
Division among the protesters was clear.
Locals were mainly motivated by sympathy for the Hammonds, but the
outsiders were agitating to link their treatment to much larger issues
around land management, criminal justice and the constitution.
There was anger at the community meeting that those occupying federal
land would delegitimise the grievances around the Hammond case, and
attract the attention of federal agencies to a movement which until then
had been been peaceful.
The militia occupying the refuge said they were in for the long haul.
“We’re planning on staying here for years, absolutely,” Ammon Bundy
said. “This is not a decision we’ve made at the last minute.” The Associated Press contributed to this report
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