Militia members occupy US federal building in Oregon

A group of militiamen has occupied a building at a federal wildlife refuge in the US northwestern state of Oregon. The incident at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge took place after a demonstration on Saturday in Burns, some 50 kilometers up north, in support of two local ranchers facing additional prison time for arson. 73-year-old Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven Hammond, 46, were convicted in 2012 for setting fire in 2001 and 2006 to public land adjacent to their ranch. They served prison terms of three months and one year respectively, and were ordered by a federal judge in October to return to prison. Dwight Hammond told supporters at his home Saturday that he and his son would surrender to authorities Monday. As indicated by media reports reaching here, while about 300 people at the demonstration were mostly local, at least some of the occupiers at the wildlife refuge building seemed to be from outside the remote area in southeastern Oregon. Ammon Bundy, from Nevada, said he and two of his brothers were "planning on staying here for years" and "this is not a decision we've made at the last minute." In an early Sunday morning telephone interview with Cable News Network, the 40-year-old son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, seemed to be hesitant specifying his demands against the federal government. He said the group in the building was armed. In a message posted on Facebook, he called on "all patriots" across the United States to join him. Some militiamen told OregonLive earlier that there were about 150 of them, but a couple who delivered food to the site estimated that there were just 15. Cliven Bundy staged in April last year an armed standoff with federal agents in Bunkerville, Nevada, over grazing rights on federal land. It lasted several weeks, drawing national attention and the participation of militiamen with assault rifles from around the country. However, W. Alan Schroeder, the Hammonds' lawyer, wrote to Sheriff David Ward of Harney County, where the wildlife refuge is located, to distance his clients from the militiamen, saying "neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond Family." In a statement released Saturday night, Sheriff Ward said "a collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution" to the situation at the refuge and asked the public to "stay away from that area."