Armed protesters occupy US wildlife headquarters in Oregon
A group of self-styled militiamen occupied the headquarters of a US wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon in a standoff with authorities, officials and local media reports said on Sunday, in the latest dispute over federal land use in the West.
The occupation, which began on Saturday followed a march in Burns, a small city about 50 miles (80 km) north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, to protest the incarceration of ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond. The two were convicted in 2012 of setting fires on public land to protect their property from wildfires.
A federal court had ordered the Hammonds to be returned to prison after ruling their original sentences were insufficient.
