Ammon Bundy is encouraging his followers to abandon the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon following his arrest on Tuesday night.
Through his attorney, Bundy asked the remaining occupiers to leave the refuge and go home, KATU in Portland reported Wednesday evening.
{mosads}Bundy and five others — including his bother, Ryan — were arrested Tuesday night on charges of impeding the investigation of law enforcement officials. A seventh occupier was killed by police during a traffic stop, while two others were arrested elsewhere.
Bundy and six co-defendants were order held without bail on Wednesday night, Reuters reported. The FBI told the occupiers earlier Wednesday that they should leave the area after its leaders were arrested.
The traffic stop that led to the arrests Tuesday was the first confrontation between law enforcement and the self-described “militia” that has held the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Jan. 2.
The group opposes federal land ownserhip and is protesting the punishment that was given to two men who set fire to federal land in the region.
About 40 people remained at the refuge earlier this week and had not taken the FBI’s suggestion that they leave, The Oregonian reported.
“The rest have decided they’re going to hold their ground,” Gary Hunt, one of the occupiers, told the newspaper earlier Wednesday.