(CNN) A 41-day occupation at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon ended Thursday when the four remaining protesters surrendered to authorities, according to a live-streamed phone call transmitted from the scene.
For a moment, the surrender took a dramatic turn when the last holdout refused to follow the other three and continued the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge’s headquarters in Harney County.
David Fry contended his grievances against the federal government hadn’t been addressed, but he ultimately relented and abandoned the occupation after supporters coaxed him on the phone call,which was carried on YouTube and followed by tens of thousands of listeners for several hours.
Fry said, “I am walking to them right now” as the other people on the phone call said, “Hallelujah, keep walking.”
Through the open phone line, listeners could hear officials as they arrested the man, saying “nice and easy, hands behind your back.”
The end of the siege came after the armed occupiers earlier indicated they would turn themselves in. By morning’s end, they fulfilled that pledge.
Hours before, federal agents arrested the figurehead of the protesters’ movement: Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who didn’t participate in the occupation but is the father of arrested standoff leader Ammon Bundy.
For now, the arrests of the Bundys and the end of occupation put the dispute in the hands of the courts. The Bundys and their supporters argue that the federal government has exceeded the boundaries of the Constitution.
Cliven Bundy announced on Wednesday he was heading to Oregon, according to a Facebook page for his Nevada ranch. In 2014, he came to the national spotlight in a showdown with the federal Bureau of Land Management over grazing rights for his cattle.
“It’s time!” the Facebook post said. “Cliven Bundy is headed to the Harney County Resource Center in Burns Oregon.”
But Bundy was taken into federal custody in Portland after landing early Thursday, the FBI said.
Bundy was charged with six counts relating to the 2014 standoff with the federal government, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada.
He was charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, assault on a federal law officer by use of a deadly and dangerous weapon, interference with commerce by extortion, and obstruction of justice. He was also charged with two counts of use and carry of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, the complaint said.
