(by Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars.com) – Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy has called on Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie to start arresting Bureau of Land Management agents on charges of trespassing and theft as his battle against the federal government intensifies.
Bundy’s dispute with the feds escalated yesterday when several of his supporters were assaulted by BLM officials. The BLM is currently rounding up Bundy’s cattle in order to enforce a regulation in order to protect an endangered desert tortoise after 600,000 acres of public land was reclassified as federal property.
During a Moapa Valley town hall meeting last night, Bundy said he went to visit Sheriff Gillespie a few days ago but “found him hiding under the table”.
“He is the man that has constitutional jurisdiction and authority, he has policing power here in Clark County Nevada, and he has arresting power, so we elected him and we pay him, what do we pay him to do?” asked Bundy, adding, “Don’t we pay him to protect our life, liberty and property?”
Bundy noted that his life was under threat because he couldn’t get a response from a 911 call, adding, “My liberty is threatened when they lock me away from my land and my property and I can’t care for my cows….they stole my property, around 300 head of cattle….they stole them in Clark County Nevada.”
Bundy also called on Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to make a stand for residents of Clark County. Sandoval publicly blasted the BLM over their creation of a ‘First Amendment Area’ outside of which free speech is banned while also decrying the “intimidation” tactics used against the Bundy family, but he has yet to offer anything other than vocal condemnation.
“I love you people, and I love this land, and I love freedom and liberty, and I love the sovereign state of Nevada and nobody can tell me the United States owns this land,” said Bundy, adding that he would pay any grazing fees to Clark County and not the federal government.
Asserting that the land under dispute was owned by the people of Clark County, Bundy asked, “Is the United States government trespassing on your land?” to which the crowd reacted with an emphatic “yes!”
During the town hall meeting, Bundy’s sister, Margaret Houston also spoke about how she was assaulted by BML agents earlier in the day, remarking, “It felt like a war zone and I felt like I was not in the United States….they have snipers, they have helicopters, they’re carrying machine guns, it’s not pretty, it’s like a foreign country.”
The fact that at least 200 armed federal agents are watching Bundy’s ranch from a military-style compound with sophisticated surveillance technology has sparked fears that the dispute could escalate into a Waco-style assault.
