An intense showdown in the state of Nevada between a family
of ranchers and federal agents continues to escalate after a longstanding land
dispute two decades in the making came to a head earlier this month.
Earlier this week, hundreds of armed agents with the United
States Bureau of Land Management and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have
descended on the Clark County, Nevada ranch of 67-year-old Cliven Bundy to
execute the court-ordered confiscation of nearly 1,000 cattle, according to his
family, which the US government says have trespassed on federal property.
The Washington Free Beacon newspaper reported on Monday this
week that 234 of the 908 cattle had been wrangled up by government agents and
their contractors, and news of the dispute has since further propelled the
story into the national spotlight.
Now it’s been reported that local cowboys have retrieved
some of the confiscated cattle, and supporters of the Bundy ranch from around
the region have flocked to Nevada to stand by their side.
Since the Beacon first reported on the standoff earlier the
week, tensions have only worsened in Clark County. Video emerged online on
Wednesday of the rancher’s son, Ammon Bundy, bloodied after being shocked by an
electric Taser used by authorities, and Desert News reported that, according to
Cliven Bundy, his own sister was knocked to the ground by officials moments
before cameras began to roll.
One witness, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, told
reporters that “Serious bloodshed was narrowly avoided” as a pregnant woman was
also roughed up during the ordeal.
"We never did have any hand-to-hand combat this morning
or up to his time," Mr. Bundy told the newspaper on Thursday afternoon.
"But there's like 200 armed military people on my ranch. That's pretty bad
to have that much armed force against American people."
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