Nevada rancher, Federal government standoff ends, cattle returned to Cliven Bundy
The tense stand-off between hundreds of protesters and police has ended in the Nevada desert, forcing the authorities to cancel the round-up of 300 animals and to return the cattle to their owner.
The standoff between rancher Cliven Bundy and the US Bureau of Land Management has lasted over a week, after hundreds of armed agents with the United States Bureau of Land Management and the FBI turned up in the Clark County to execute the court-ordered confiscation of nearly 1,000 cattle.
The US government says the animals have trespassed on federal property.
Anti-government groups, right-wing politicians and gun-rights activists gathered near Bundy’s farmhouse to support him in the standoff against the government. At some point there were about 1,000 protesters outside the rancher’s home.
In an interview before the bureau’s announcement, Bundy stated that he was impressed by the level of support he had received. Local cowboys even attempted to retrieve some of his cattle, after the government’s agents wrangled one-third of his cattle Monday.
“I’m excited that we are really fighting for our freedom. We’ve been losing it for a long time,” Bundy said.
The government declared they had decided to free the cattle.
“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,” the bureau’s director, Neil Kornze, said in a statement.
[…] of protesters had gathered to support Bundy and the peaceful resolution was a step in the right direction to resolve the issue, but as Reid stated “it’s not […]
I dunno.. I think, if Bundy is so keen to abide by all of Nevada’s laws, he should check out Section 2 of his own state’s constitution and read what it says about “paramount allegiance”. http://goo.gl/0tOKNS