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Oregon occupiers plan surrender

Live Stream: Occupiers claim surrounded by FBI
Live Stream: Occupiers claim surrounded by FBI
Live Stream: Occupiers claim surrounded by FBI
Live Stream: Occupiers claim surrounded by FBI
Live Stream: Occupiers claim surrounded by FBI
Live Stream: Occupiers claim surrounded by FBI
Posted at 7:30 PM, Feb 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-11 13:04:20-05

The four remaining protesters holding out as part of an occupation of federal land in Oregon say they are going to surrender to FBI agents Thursday morning.

Tense moments involving the FBI and those protesters played out live across the Internet Wednesday night through a phone call streamed on YouTube.

The FBI says agents moved forward Wednesday evening to contain an area where the protesters are staying after one of the occupiers rode an ATV outside the barricades they’ve established and began negotiating with the occupiers.

The phone call lasted for hours as the occupiers called on the FBI to back off.  FBI negotiators could occasionally be heard in the background asking the protesters to give themselves up.  The four remaining occupiers are Sean and Sandy Anderson from Riggins, David Fry from Ohio and Jeff Banta from Nevada.

Throughout the call there was panic expressed by the occupiers as they feared FBI agents would engage them in violence.  Those occupiers repeatedly said they would not open fire unless they were fired at first.

Eventually, Nevada State Assemblywoman Michelle Fiore joined the call.  She spoke with the protesters urging them to remain calm as she traveled by car from Portland to the Burns area to help negotiate a peaceful end to the incident.

At one point more than 50,000 people were listening to the live stream of the conversation.

Finally just before 11 p.m. mountain time the protesters came to an agreement saying they would surrender in the morning.  They prepared to go to bed for the evening and agreed to meet FBI agents at a checkpoint in the morning along with Fiore and evangelist Reverend Franklin Graham, whom the group requested help from. 

New this morning we've learned that Cliven Bundy, the father of standoff leaders Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy has been arrested in Portland. When we spoke with him last night he was his way to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. As of now there are no charges listed on the Multnomah County jail records.

We have a crew in Burns and will bring you the latest on this story as it develops.