BURNS, Ore., Jan. 20 (UPI) — Hundreds of people demonstrated in Portland, Ore., in opposition to the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
Tuesday was the 18th day of the occupation of the refuge by the group, led by Ammon Bundy, protesting federal interference in local land issues. Surprisingly, Bundy and about a dozen other occupiers attended an emotionally charged meeting at Burns High School in Burns, Ore., and while he did not speak, the majority present indicated they thought the group had overstayed its welcome.
“I agree with you 100 percent, but get out of my yard,” an unidentified audience member told Bundy. Another said, to applause, “How dare you come here into our school? Go home and I hope you get arrested on the way there!”
Harney County, Ore., Judge Steve Grasty, pointed at Bundy and shouted, “It’s time for you to go home.” Bundy and his militia returned to the refuge.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters gathered in nearby Portland to support the 187,000-acre wildlife refuge, now closed.
“These lands belong all of us. What this is, is an armed, criminal political occupation of public lands. That should offend everybody,” said Bob Sallinger of the Audubon Society of Portland, one of the groups organizing the demonstration. “Number two, they’re destroying public property. I mean they’re literally stealing from the public when they go in and take down fences and they destroy habitat and they break into buildings.”
Another protest was held in Bend, Ore., organized by the Bitterbrush Broadband, the local chapter of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness. In a tongue-in-cheek demonstration, the group, comprised largely of female senior citizens with an interest in nature and public lands, waved kitchen tools as they marched. One said, “It’s time for the bullies to go home!”
She was corrected by another demonstrator, who said, “Don’t go home, go to jail!”
