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               FBI Surrounds Remaining Occupiers at Oregon Refuge

   by VOA News

   Federal law enforcement officials surrounded the four remaining armed
   protestors occupying a U.S. federal wildlife refuge late Wednesday.

   The FBI said in a statement its agents placed barricades around the
   area the protestors are camping at the Malheur National Wildlife
   Refuge.

   Authorities said they began encircling the camp after one of the
   protestors drove an all-terrain vehicle outside barricades the
   protestors themselves had erected earlier.  Officials said an attempt
   was made to approach the driver, but he drove away "at a high rate of
   speed," the Portland Oregonian reported.

   Greg Bretzing, the FBI's special agent in charge in Oregon, said the
   situation "reached a point where it became necessary to take action in
   a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law
   enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County
   who live and work in this area."

   An acquaintance of one of the occupiers was streaming a phone call with
   the four remaining protestors live on the Internet.  On the call, one
   of the protestors was heard yelling to the agents surrounding the camp
   that the group would only leave the refuge "dead, or without charges."

   ''

   40-day standoff

   The standoff began Jan. 2 when an anti-government militia group
   composed of about 100 ranchers, farmers, and so-called survivalists
   took over the refuge.  The group was led by Ammon Bundy, whose family
   was at the center of another armed standoff in 2014 over grazing rights
   on federal lands.

   Bundy and most of the group's leaders were arrested Jan. 26 when they
   left the refuge for a meeting and authorities stopped the protestor's
   vehicles.  Shots were fired during the incident, and one of the
   occupiers, Robert Finicum, was killed.  Federal officials said Finicum
   reached into his jacket for a handgun, a claim the protestors and their
   supporters dispute.

   Most of the occupiers left in the days and weeks after the arrests, but
   the four remaining have said they want assurances they won't face
   charges if they leave.

   A federal grand jury has indicted 11 people arrested for their roles in
   the refuge occupation, including Bundy.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/fbi-surrounds-occupiers-at-oregon-ref
   uge/3186237.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/fbi-surrounds-occupiers-at-oregon-refuge/3186237.html