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SHERIFF: THE HAMMONDS HAVE TURNED THEMSELVES IN

Monday, January 04, 2016 - 00:50

The father and son ranchers at the center of an Oregon protest at a wildlife refuge have turned themselves in to authorities. Sheriff calls on occupiers to return home. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

SEE VIDEO

http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/01/04/sheriff-the-hammonds-have-turned-themsel?videoId=366918342&videoChannel=1

Transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) The leaders of a group of self-styled militiamen who took over a remote U.S. wildlife refuge center in Oregon over the weekend said on Monday they acted to protest the federal government's role in managing millions of acres of wild lands. The anti-government occupation, which began on Saturday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 30 miles (50 km) south of the small town of Burns, was the latest skirmish over federal land management in large tracts of the West. A protest leader, Ammon Bundy, told reporters outside the occupied facility on Monday that his group had named itself "Citizens for Constitutional Freedom" and was trying to restore individual rights. Bundy and law enforcement officials declined to say how many people were occupying the center. About half a dozen occupiers could be seen outside the facility on Monday, with some manning a watchtower and others standing around a vehicle they had used to block the road leading to the building. They chatted quietly among themselves. None was visibly armed. The FBI said it was seeking a "peaceful resolution to the situation." It declined to give details on how the U.S. government would deal with the occupiers. No significant law enforcement presence could be seen at the site. The occupation followed a demonstration in Burns over the imminent imprisonment of local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, who were found guilty of setting a series of fires. Through an attorney, they have dissociated themselves from the occupiers. The father and son ranchers turned themselves in as planned on Monday at a federal prison in California.

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