The last four armed protesters occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon were set to surrender on Thursday, hours after authorities arrested the Nevada rancher whose sons started the showdown.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Cliven Bundy, 74, of Nevada was arrested on Wednesday evening in Portland. He was reportedly on his way to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote eastern Oregon to support the militants in their protest over federal land control in the West.
Led by his son, Idaho rancher Ammon Bundy, the occupation has stretched for 41 days, and the last four occupiers were prepared to surrender to the FBI on Thursday morning.
A number of the occupiers were relating their account of events via an independent Internet broadcast, "Revolution Radio," that is known to be sympathetic to the occupation.
The elder Bundy faces conspiracy and weapons charges, the Oregonian newspaper reported. He led a 2014 standoff with the government over Nevada grazing rights that ended with federal agents backing down in the face of about 1,000 armed militiamen.
His sons, Ammon and Ryan, face the same conspiracy charge for their role in the Oregon standoff, which started on Jan. 2.
The occupation was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in the vicinity of the refuge. It also was directed as a protest against federal control over millions of acres of public land in the West.
Ammon Bundy and 10 others were arrested in January in Oregon, most of them during a confrontation with the FBI and state police on a snow-covered roadside where a spokesman for the group, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was shot dead. A 12th member of the group surrendered to police in Arizona.
The fate of Bundy and other members of the group who remain in custody has been clouded by the four holdouts, who joined the protest after it started. A judge has cited the continuing standoff as a major obstacle to the release of at least some of those who remain jailed on federal charges.
The four remaining protesters were indicted last week along with 12 others previously arrested on charges of conspiring to impede federal officers during the occupation
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