BURNS, Oregon: The leader of an anti-government siege at a US wildlife refuge until his arrest in an operation that left one protester dead urged the remaining armed occupiers to go home Wednesday. Eight people including Ammon Bundy were taken into custody and one of his group killed in a dramatic twist late Tuesday to the tense three-week standoff in Oregon involving ranchers and farmers angry over federal land management policies. Speaking through his attorney, Bundy appealed to the handful of people still holed up in the remote area to end their siege. “Right now I am asking the federal government to allow the people at the refuge to go home without being prosecuted,” he said. Authorities have blocked the access road leading into the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the occupiers are free to leave, but will be identified as they do so, Greg Bretzing, head of the FBI’s Portland office, said.

AFP