By Ryan Gorman and Dan Miller and Meghan Keneally of Daily Mail
A Republican U.S. Senator and Nevada’s governor have spoken out in favor of a rancher fighting efforts by federal agents to seize both his land and his cattle.
Sen Dean Heller, of Nevada, says he told U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) head Neil Kornze that law-abiding Nevadans such as rancher Cliven Bundy shouldn’t be penalized by an ‘overreaching’ agency.
Governor Buran Sandoval, also a Republican, previously spoke out against the actions, saying they are leading to an ‘atmosphere of intimidation.’
The remarks came as video emerged of Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, was shown being repeatedly shot with a taser and threatened by police dogs.
The confrontation took place Wednesday and was caught on video by Bundy supporters and relatives who got into an aggressive- and at times violent- face off with the officers.
Militias that have streamed into the tiny town just north of Lake Mead told News 8 Now they feel violence is imminent as tempers flare in the desert heat.
‘We want to get ourselves between this family and these federal agents,’ said Brand Thornton, of the Southern Nevada Militia. ‘We have pretty strong feelings that this could erupt in violence.’
We have you surrounded! Armed cowboys lay siege to federal agents to get ‘stolen’ cattle back after government backed down and said it would STOP targeting Nevada rancher in ‘range war’
Protesters demand cows that were already rounded up are returned
Highway is closed off and SWAT teams spotted as protest moves to corral
Politicians have compared the standoff to Tiananmen Square
The Bundy family says they’ve owned the 600,000 acres since 1870 but the Bureau of Land Management says they are illegally grazing
The dispute began in 1993 when land was reclassified as to federal property to protect a rare desert tortoise, the government claimed
Federal officers stormed the property this week with helicopters and snipers to back up about 200 armed agents
They have reportedly seized around 350 of Cliven Bundy’s 900 cattle
Tensions escalated after private militias poured in to support the family
The last rancher in southern Nevada has won a battle over the federal government’s round up of his cattle on public land after a week-long standoff with agents.
The Bureau of Land Management announced today that it would stop trying to seize the cattle of Cliven Bundy after armed militia gathered in Nevada.
Shortly after the deal was agreed, about 100 armed protesters, some on horse back, headed to a corral to demand the BLM also hands back cattle it had already taken.
Armed members of the BLM and the Bundy family were also reported to be involved in tense talks about the cattle.
Deal: Cliven Bundy shakes hands with Sheiff Doug Gillespie as the rancher comes to a deal to stop federal agents rounding up his cattle
Show down: Ranchers on horseback and protesters gather at the base camp. A group about 100 strong are reportedly heading to the corral to force the BLM to release the cattle it already rounded up
As it announced earlier today that it was backing off, the BLM said it did so because it feared for the safety of employees and members of the public.
Despite the week-long protest being called off, there were claims that nearly two dozen police and a SWAT team were waiting on the road near the encampment.
There have been no threats of violence from the protesters, who were asked to leave any guns they may have in their vehicles before coming to the camp.
In previous days, men carrying AK-47s and handguns had been pictured at the camp in southern Nevada that was set up in protest at the bureau’s attempt to confiscate cattle from Bundy, whose family has been working the land for centuries.
The BLM had offered to pay Bundy for the cattle it has already rounded up, but protesters are demanding they are released to the rancher.
The cattle are being held in a corral near Mesquite, close to where the SWAT team were spotted.
About an hour after Bundy agreed a deal with the county sheriff, about 100 protesters, some armed and on horseback, headed to the corral.
Nevada Police have pleaded with drivers to avoid the highway from Las Vegas to Mesquite, as protesters swelled out across the road, causing it to be cut off in both directions.
The BLM has said its agents will not be able to leave until protesters are at a safe distance, according to 8 News Now.
The station reported that members of the Bundy family and the BLM were meeting to discuss the fate of the cattle, and that both sides are armed.
Brothers in arms: Rancher Cliven Bundy (2nd R) is escorted Friday by militia members in Bunkerville, Nevada
Armed: Brand Thornton, of Las Vegas, blows a shofar on a hillside above a protest area near Bunkerville, Nev. Friday, April 11, 2014. Thorton joined others to protest the Bureau of Land Management’s cattle roundup owned by Cliven Bundy
The dispute that triggered the roundup dates to 1993, when the BLM cited concern for the federally protected tortoise. The agency later revoked grazing rights for Bundy, who is the last rancher in Clark County.
BLM director Neil Kornze said on Saturday however: ‘Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public.’
Bundy claims ancestral rights to graze his cattle on lands his Mormon family settled in the 19th century. He stopped paying grazing fees and disregarded several court orders to remove his animals.
BLM officials say Bundy now owes more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees.
‘I have no contract with the United States government. I was paying grazing fees for management and that’s what BLM was supposed to be, land managers and they were managing my ranch out of business, so I refused to pay,’ the rancher told ABC News.
Supporters for Bundy said about 300 protesters had arrived to help campaign on the rancher’s behalf. The BLM put the number at 100.
The protest came to an end after Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie brokered a deal with Bundy.
The sheriff has been negotiating with the rancher for months, and the pair met at the ranch today to finalize the deal, according to 8 News Now.
Taking a stand: Ammon Bundy (back C), son of rancher Cliven Bundy, talks Friday to protesters at the property
The BLM is reportedly keen to go ahead with the sale of cattle it has rounded up, but is said to be willing to share the profits with Bundy.
As the protest became heated earlier this week, a Republican U.S. Senator and Nevada’s governor spoke out in favor of a rancher fighting efforts by federal agents to seize both his land and his cattle.
Sen Dean Heller, of Nevada, says he told U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) head Neil Kornze that law-abiding Nevadans such as rancher Cliven Bundy shouldn’t be penalized by an ‘overreaching’ agency.
Governor Buran Sandoval, also a Republican, previously spoke out against the actions, saying they are leading to an ‘atmosphere of intimidation.’
The round-up: Bureau of Land Management vehicles are seen Friday near a corral with cattle outside Bunkerville, Nevada
JOining the cause: Steven Kelly (R) talks on a phone as he stands by a protest signs he posted on his house as his soon Sean Kelly (L), looks on west of Mesquite, Nevada
In Arizona, a congressman said he and several state Republican lawmakers may travel to Bunkerville to protest what they perceive as government heavy-handedness.
Arizona state representative Bob Thorpe, of Flagstaff, said he and state legislators weren’t arguing whether Bundy broke laws or violated grazing agreements.
Thorpe said the Arizona lawmakers were upset the BLM initially restricted protesters to so-called free speech zones.
Senator Dean Heller and Governor Brian Sandoval, both Republicans, have also said they were upset with the way the BLM was conducting the roundup.
The remarks came as video emerged of Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, was shown being repeatedly shot with a taser and threatened by police dogs.
The confrontation took place Wednesday and was caught on video by Bundy supporters and relatives who got into an aggressive- and at times violent- face off with the officers.
Militias that have streamed into the tiny town just north of Lake Mead told News 8 Now they feel violence is imminent as tempers flare in the desert heat.
‘We want to get ourselves between this family and these federal agents,’ said Brand Thornton, of the Southern Nevada Militia. ‘We have pretty strong feelings that this could erupt in violence.’
Violent: An officer is seen firing a taser at Ammon Bundy as an aggressive police dog goes after him
Another militia member told the station he’s there to support Bundy whether ‘he’s legally right or wrong.’
The increasing number of people arriving at the camp in support of the rancher came only one day after other officials spoke out in favor of the embattled rancher.
‘Watching that video last night created a visceral reaction in me,’ Arizona state Representative Kelly Townsend told the Las Vegas Review Journal.
‘It sounds dramatic, but it reminded me of Tiananmen Square. I don’t recognize my country at this point.’
Ms Townsend, a Tea Party-supporter from Phoenix, said that she plans to drive up to Nevada to join the Bundys’ supporters in their protest over the weekend.
Closer to home, Nevada state assemblywoman Michele Fiore has already made two trips to meet with the protesters in Bunkerville after seeing the ‘horrifying’ footage.
‘I’m highly offended by the feds coming in as aggressively as they have,’ she told the paper.
Bloodied: Krissy Thornton, right, looks at blood from a taser wound on Ammon Bundy
Outrage over the footage prompted a change in the federal agents’ orders, according to a BLM spokesperson.
‘We are allowing people to congregate on public land as long as they don’t inhibit the operation,’ Amy Lueders said Thursday.
‘It sounds dramatic, but it reminded me of Tiananmen Square. I don’t recognize my country at this point.’
-Arizona state Representative Kelly Townsend
The week-long standoff started when federal agents swooped in Tuesday after Cliven Bundy, the last remaining rancher in southern Nevada, refused to remove his herd of 900 cows from land he claims has been in his family since 1870.
The heavily-armed federal agents, equipped with eight helicopters and backed-up by snipers, surrounded the Bundy ranch after the BLM attained a federal court order to confiscate the family’s herd.
A Facebook post made by Bundy supporters told protesters to bring cameras and ‘film everything’ but ‘any rifles people may have with them need to stay in the vehicles’.
Sandoval, who criticized the tactics used by the BLM agents earlier this week, has urged everyone to show restraint.
‘Although tensions remain high, escalation of current events could have negative, long lasting consequences that can be avoided,’ he said Thursday.
The cattle grab came after Bundy family supporters began comparing the showdown to a war.
‘No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans,’ Sandoval said in a statement released after business hours Tuesday.
The Republican governor weighed in after several days of news coverage and radio talk show commentary about blocked roads and armed federal agents fanning out around Bundy’s ranch while contractors using helicopters and vehicles herd cows into portable pens in rugged and remote areas.
Sandoval’s comments came the same day the U.S. Senate confirmed Neil Kornze, a Nevada native, as the new BLM director.
Kornze is a natural resource manager who grew up in Elko and served previously as a senior adviser to Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Free speech? Cliven Bundy walks by a first amendment area set up by the Bureau of Land Management near Bunkerville
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