Four Remaining Oregon Occupiers, Surrounded by FBI, Surrender
I think both the country and the world are relieved by this. I was worried this could turn into something really bad for the country like Waco did which was followed by the Oklahoma Bombing. I think the U.S. has really dodged a bullet this time.
The
four remaining occupiers at an Oregon wildlife refuge surrendered
Thursday morning after hours of tense negotiations, bringing an end to a
nearly six-week dem…NBC NewsOregon Occupie
Four Remaining Oregon Occupiers, Surrounded by FBI, Surrender
byAlexander SmithandErik Ortiz
The four remaining occupiers at an Oregon
wildlife refuge surrendered Thursday morning after hours of tense
negotiations, bringing an end to a nearly six-week demonstration.
Jeff Banta, Sean Anderson, Sandy Anderson and David Fry were taken in without incident after FBI agents overnight surrounded the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 300 miles southeast of Portland.
People wave American flags near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, on Feb. 11, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Rebecca Boone / AP
The FBI's decision to encircle the last of the
holdouts marked a dramatic escalation to a mostly slow-plodding armed
demonstration at the sanctuary.
The ringleaders, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and other
protesters were arrested last month, and Ammon Bundy called for the
remaining occupiers to give up.
Agents "moved to contain" the holdouts Wednesday after one allegedly drove outside previously-established barricades and then back in at high speed when approached by the FBI, the bureau said in a statement. RELATED: Meet the Colorful Lawmaker Allied With Oregon Occupiers
The occupation came to an emotionally heated
conclusion as Fry, the last to leave, ranted about politics and
threatened suicide in a livestreamed conversation with self-described
"liberty activist" Gavin Seim and conservative radio host KrisAnne Hall.
"I'm not coming out of here alive," Fry, 27,
could be heard saying at one point. "I'll kill myself before you guys
(expletive) do it."
Fry said he was unhappy that his taxes were going toward abortions, drone strikes in the Middle East and Obamacare.
"You have a very powerful voice. You have a very
powerful passion," Hall could be heard saying, adding Fry would have
more influence on the outside.
Nevada lawmaker Michele Fiore and evangelist Franklin Graham, two allies of the occupiers, were also outside the compound. Related: Who Are the Four Holdouts in the Oregon Refuge?
Thursday's events followed a phone call
Wednesday night between the protesters and negotiators that was also
livestreamed online. In the call, the occupiers warned that the incident
could end in bloodshed.
But an occupier identified as Sean Anderson —
one of the remaining four — said that the stragglers would turn
themselves in once Fiore and Graham arrived at the wildlife refuge.
In the sometimes fiery phone call, Anderson, 48,
repeated that the occupiers weren't technically giving up what they
stand for.
"We're not surrendering, we're turning ourselves in," said. "It's going against everything we believe in."
Fiore was also on the phone call, which was streamed by Seim.
"We have to walk to them with our hands raised,
no weapons. I told [the FBI] we're going to be carrying American flags,"
Anderson told the assemblywoman. "In the morning, once we get word that
you and the reverend are at the checkpoint, we will proceed with our
surrender." Related: Federal Jury Indicts Arrested Oregon Protesters
As the confrontation unfolded in Oregon on
Wednesday, the Bundy brothers' father, Cliven, was taken into federal
custody in Portland. It was not immediately clear what charges he faced.
From Waco to Oregon, Here Are Some Notable Standoffs with the Feds2:39
Anderson's 47-year-old wife, Sandy, said earlier
on the call that her husband and the other two occupiers — Fry and
Banta, 46 — had persuaded her to join them in giving themselves up.
"They want me to agree to it, and I will for
them," she said. "I want everybody to know that we'll never see the
light of day again from prison."
The protesters overran the then-empty wildlife
refuge 250 miles from Portland on Jan. 2. They demanded the return of
federal land they felt had been taken from the public, and the
exoneration of two ranchers convicted of setting fires that spread to
public land. Related: Oregon Townsfolk Are Tired of Occupiers
Cliven
Bundy, the father of Ammon Bundy, the arrested leader of the armed
occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, was booked in
Multnomah County Jail Wednesday night. Multnomah County Sheriff
Ryan and Ammon Bundy, ages 43 and 40, were among five occupiers arrested during a traffic stop on Jan. 26 as they drove to a public meeting.
Another vocal member of the group, 54-year-old Robert LaVoy Finicum, was shot dead during that encounter
by law enforcement officials who said he ignored their demands to
surrender. Finicum's family rejects the FBI's suggestion he was armed.
Cliven Bundy, 74, was arrested and taken into federal custody on Wednesday as the standoff at the refuge unfolded.
Records showed Cliven Bundy was booked into Portland's Multnomah County Jail late Wednesday.
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