Demonstrators from around the West protest FBI presence in Oregon town
BURNS, Ore. — Armed with American and Gadsden flags, various signs and the horns of their pickups, dozens of demonstrators took to the streets Saturday night in protest of the FBI presence in this small town.
Trucks from nearly every Western state, including Nevada, spent more than an hour driving through the dimly lit streets of Burns — horns blaring — making a point of slowly passing by the makeshift law enforcement command center inside the local elementary school.
Upset with the federal involvement in the armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, people yelled for the FBI to “go home” as they passed the school.
Several also carried signs in memory of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who was shot and killed by Oregon state troopers on Tuesday.
The monthlong occupation of the federal wildlife compound reached its breaking point earlier this week when federal agents and local police moved in to arrest several militia members as they headed to a town hall meeting in the town of John Day, Oregon, about 100 miles north of the refuge headquarters.
Instead of surrendering, Finicum raced off in his white pickup truck, evading a spike strip and heading full speed for a police blockade before swerving at the last second into a snow bank, narrowly missing a state trooper, the FBI said Thursday.
Troopers shot and killed Finicum, 55, after he jumped out of his truck.
On Thursday, the FBI released video of the shooting. In the video, Finicum put his hands up but then appears to reach into his jacket before police fired their guns. The FBI said the man had a loaded 9 mm pistol in his pocket.
Not everyone who showed up Saturday night was there in support, though.
Jen Hoke, an 8-year resident of Burns, protested the protest, holding a sign that read, “Militia Go Home. “
Hoke said her three teenage children haven’t felt safe enough to go out of the house with the presence of anti-government groups, such as the Pacific Patriots Network and “111” Percenters.
“They don’t feel safe in their own community anymore,” Hoke said. “That is not right.”
Hoke added that she was tired of the militia saying they were standing up for the town.
“Harney County has its voice,” she said. “We don’t need these people to come here and speak for us.”
Earlier Saturday, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, father of occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy, released a statement denouncing the shooting death of Finicum.
“LaVoy Finicum was assassinated by wicked and evil men representing our US government. These men in local, state, and US government feared the truths that LaVoy Finicum was standing for and teaching to his fellowmen,” the Bundy patriarch wrote in statement released to the media.
“All is well in your government. There cannot be a cry go out for freedom, or for property rights, state sovereignty, local government close to the people — government by the people — for the people. No, we cannot allow policing power be in the hands of We the People’s elected county Sheriff,” Bundy’s statement reads.
Earlier in the week, Bundy told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Finicum’s death and the arrests of his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, as well as other self-styled militia and anti-government activists, would be “a wake-up call to America.”
At least nine occupiers left the compound after law enforcement surrounded it following the arrest of the Bundys and other members of the group. Of those, six were released, and three — Jason Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Georgia; Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, or Irrigon, Oregon; and Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, Utah — were arrested by FBI agents outside the occupied federal compound late Wednesday.
As with the other arrested occupiers, the three men face a felony charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.
Four members of the militia still remain at the wildlife refuge compound while the FBI tries to negotiate with them.
The standoff and occupation, which began Jan. 2, were part of an effort to claim control of federal lands in the West for ranchers and others. Occupiers had said they sought to start a movement in Oregon that would spread throughout the West. Protesters also objected to the five-year federal prison sentences given to Oregon ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and son Steven Hammond for arson on public lands and a bid to get them released from prison.
— Reporter Keith Rogers contributed to this story. Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead.