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News > World

Anti-Government Extremists Defy Native Tribe, Sheriff to Continue Oregon Occupation

  • Ammon Bundy (C) meets with supporters and the media at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon.

    Ammon Bundy (C) meets with supporters and the media at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon. | Photo: Reuters

Published 8 January 2016
Opinion

The militia says it is defending constitutional rights to the land. Local tribal leaders say it is violating Native American land rights.

After the leader of an Oregon Native American tribe ordered armed extremists to stop occupying their ancestral land, and a local sheriff offered a peaceful escort on Thursday, the armed group refused to leave.

“We as Harney County residents don't need some clown to come in here and stand up for us," said Paiute Tribe Council Member Jarvis Kennedy.

Residents of the town, many cattle ranchers and farmers, echoed growing frustration with the occupiers, who drew attracted media attention since they planted themselves in federal buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday. The sheriff promised to meet again on Friday, but other authorities have not yet stepped in.

RELATED: Failure to Label Oregon Gunmen Terrorists Sparks Backlash

“It’s very nice to know that we’re on television and the radio and all the other media,” resident Kate Marsh told Yahoo News. But “we don’t need outsiders to bring public attention. We can do that ourselves.”

Anti-government extremists hailing from as far away as Michigan and Arizona joined group leader Ammon Bundy to call for the federal government to return land to ranchers.

Kennedy said that the Paiute tribe lived on the land even before the ranchers and has the ultimate land rights, though Senate has yet to sign the agreement. The land is currently reserved for conservation.

Bundy, whose family is known for leading anti-federal government standoffs in the past, said that the group – which media reports numbers about 20 – is also defending local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond from imprisonment for arson. They said the fires they set and were arrested for were to contain wildlife.

The Hammonds, though, do not support the extremists, according to the BBC. Neither do Oregon associations representing farmers and ranchers.

“The federal government has done a gross injustice to the Hammonds, which has severely damaged the long-term trust and cooperation that ranchers and foresters and recreationists have had with BLM,” said President Barry Bushue. “However, the illegal activity of so-called militia groups only harms the Hammonds and the rest of the community because it diverts public attention and scrutiny away from the injustice that the federal government perpetrated on this Oregon family.” Local officials cancelled school and community meetings in light of the local tension.

One of the extremists, who call themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, has been flagged by the FBI for inciting anti-Muslim violence in Arizona, reported the Washington Post.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown said that the occupation “has become unlawful.”

"It was instigated by outsiders whose tactics we Oregonians don't agree with,” she said on Thursday. “Those individuals illegally occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge need to decamp immediately and be held accountable."
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