Armed anti-govt. protesters hold Oregon refuge
Armed anti-government protesters remain holed up in a federal building in the US State of Oregon as a standoff between them and authorities shows no signs of abating.
The week-long standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside the town of Burns, Oregon, was spurred by the imprisonment of two ranchers for setting fires that spread to federal land.
The occupiers have also been calling for the release of Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven, 46, who are in a federal penitentiary.
The protest group, which calls itself the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, has pledged to stay put until federally owned land is returned "back to the people."
The US National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants.
Protest leader Ammon Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose ranch was the scene of an armed demonstration against federal Bureau of Land Management officials in 2014.
"They (the federal government) are coming down into the states and taking over the land and the resources, putting the people into duress, putting the people into poverty," Bundy has told US media reporters.
Reports say the leader of the armed protesters met briefly with a local sheriff on Thursday but rejected the lawman's offer of safe passage out of the state to end the standoff.
This is while Oregon Governor Kate Brown said Thursday that the protesters need to leave soon.
"What started as a peaceful and legal protest has become unlawful," Brown said. "It was instigated by outsiders whose tactics we Oregonians don’t agree with. Those individuals illegally occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge need to decamp immediately and be held accountable.”
As the showdown stretches on, local Native American groups in the state are calling on the protesters to withdraw, claiming they have no right to occupy the federally-owned wildlife refuge.
Yet, the protesters are vowing to remain on the premises until their demand for the release of detained ranchers is met.
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