oped: Kudos to the #FBI who maintained a calm patience and control of the situation...they did not respond to the whacko calls from the progressive bent within the Oregon governors office to attack and eliminate the protestors! There is still the issue of how the road block and death of Lavoy went down...I am confident it will work it's way through the court system now that the stand off has met it's peaceful end!
The Oregon stand-off ended Thursday after three occupiers surrendered and the last man finally went with police hours later after threatening to commit suicide.
“I’m actually holding a gun to my head,” occupier David Fry said as facilitators attempted to coax him out, saying later, “I’m tired, everybody.”
He watched the three other remaining protesters — Sandy and Sean Anderson and Jeff Banta — surrender to the FBI, then told supporters on a livestreamed phone conversation that he would not turn himself in until “my demands are met.”
The three protesters turned themselves in after the arrival of two facilitators, Nevada state Assemblywoman Michele Fiore and the Rev. Franklin Graham.
Mr. Anderson surrendered with his hands in the air holding an American flag alongside his wife Sandy, according to Mr. Fry, who described the scene in an online conversation with Ms. Fiore and supporter Gavin Seim.
After Mr. Banta turned himself in, however, Mr. Fry shouted, “Unless our grievances are heard, I will not go out!” He later said he wanted a “peaceful resolution,” and that, “Nobody’s going to get hurt unless they make some kind of move.”
David Fry, a member of an armed militia occupying a federal wildlife ... more >
Ms. Fiore, Mr. Seim and liberty activist KrisAnne Hall were
attempting to coax out the increasingly upset Mr. Fry, who said he was
“making a stand” and worried that “they’ll just ignore us” if he left
the refuge.
The facilitators, who arrived at the request of the holdouts, said their intention was to ensure that the surrender took place peacefully and without bloodshed. One occupier, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, was shot and killed Jan. 26 at an FBI roadblock.
Earlier Thursday, the FBI took into custody Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, longtime federal-lands protester and father of occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy, after he arrived in Portland, Oregon. A court hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The three surrenders came after a tense day of negotiations with FBI agents by phone with the occupiers, who had been trapped for a week in a makeshift camp after law enforcement set up roadblocks outside the refuge.
The four were the last of several dozen armed protesters who took over the refuge headquarters Jan. 2 in a protest against federal public-lands policy.
In a phone conversation streamed online, Ms. Fiore could be heard beforehand attempting to calm the sometimes panicky, sometimes defiant holdouts, telling them that, “I need you alive” to continue the fight against federal land-management authority.
At another point, Mr. Graham led the occupiers in prayer.
Attorney Mike Arnold, who represents Ammon Bundy, characterized the occupation as a form of civil disobedience, which he described as “phase one” of the protest, and that “phase two” is the upcoming legal battle.
A grand jury has indicted 16 of the protesters on federal conspiracy charges, but Mr. Arnold said at a televised roadside press conference Thursday that “the First Amendment and the Second Amendment aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Story Continues →
The facilitators, who arrived at the request of the holdouts, said their intention was to ensure that the surrender took place peacefully and without bloodshed. One occupier, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, was shot and killed Jan. 26 at an FBI roadblock.
Earlier Thursday, the FBI took into custody Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, longtime federal-lands protester and father of occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy, after he arrived in Portland, Oregon. A court hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The three surrenders came after a tense day of negotiations with FBI agents by phone with the occupiers, who had been trapped for a week in a makeshift camp after law enforcement set up roadblocks outside the refuge.
The four were the last of several dozen armed protesters who took over the refuge headquarters Jan. 2 in a protest against federal public-lands policy.
In a phone conversation streamed online, Ms. Fiore could be heard beforehand attempting to calm the sometimes panicky, sometimes defiant holdouts, telling them that, “I need you alive” to continue the fight against federal land-management authority.
At another point, Mr. Graham led the occupiers in prayer.
Attorney Mike Arnold, who represents Ammon Bundy, characterized the occupation as a form of civil disobedience, which he described as “phase one” of the protest, and that “phase two” is the upcoming legal battle.
A grand jury has indicted 16 of the protesters on federal conspiracy charges, but Mr. Arnold said at a televised roadside press conference Thursday that “the First Amendment and the Second Amendment aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Story Continues →
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