Harney County Oregon disinvites the Bundy crew

Over the weekend, a group of armed militants took over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Southern Oregon, a facility owned by the United States federal government, with no plans to leave. On Friday Bundy said that at some point he will accept Sheriff Ward’s offer of an escort out of the refuge to assure safe passage, but not yet.

The group took over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge centre near Burns to support father and son ranchers who have been ordered to return to jail. A small, armed group occupying the wildlife preserve has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. “Because of that, there are no planned meetings or calls at this time”, the Harney County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Friday afternoon.

Objecting to federal land policy, the activists seized buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 2. Authorities had not yet moved to oust the group of roughly 20 people. The group also opposes prison sentences for two area ranchers convicted of arson.

Mr Bundy had left the compound with other occupiers in two vehicles to meet the sheriff at a neutral location.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday said the armed protesters “need to decamp immediately and face the consequences”.

The militia group said they are there to prevent another “Waco-style situation” referring to the 51-day standoff in 1993 in Texas between the Branch Davidians religious sect and federal agents that ended with the deaths of four officers and more than 80 members of the group, including 23 children.

“I think people are afraid”, Sam Glerup, 61, the owner of a local vehicle towing and automotive shop called Sam’s Service said to the Daily News.

The standoff started as a protest on Saturday against the imprisonment of the Hammonds, who have said they started a fire at their ranch to prevent wildfires, and also to stem the growth of invasive plants. “For them to say they want to give the land back to their rightful owners-well, I just had to laugh at that”, she said at Wednesday’s press conference.

Locals said they sympathized with the armed group’s complaints about federal land management policies but disagreed with their tactics.

“The federal government has been terrorizing ranchers, now they’ve spun that into these guys being terrorists”, he told the Huffington Post. In October, a court decided that the Hammonds hadn’t served enough time, citing that the minimum sentence for their offense should be five years. “We are concerned citizens and realize we have to act if we want to pass along anything to our children”. They are endangering our children, and the safety of our community, and they need to leave.

In all, 30 people spoke during the almost two-hour town hall, including a trio of children who asked when they could go back to school, which has been canceled since Monday.