Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Monday called for armed protesters who occupied a federal building in Oregon to “stand down peaceably.”
“Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds,” Cruz told reporters in Iowa. “But we don’t have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence against others. So it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation.”
.@tedcruz urges stand down in Oregon by those who have overtaken refuge headquarters pic.twitter.com/Q0z2I8TD8e
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) January 4, 2016Cruz added that “our prayers” are with members of law enforcement addressing the standoff, which started Saturday after a group of protesters seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters.
The occupying group includes Ammon and Ryan Bundy, the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who led another tense confrontation over federal government land rights in 2014. The group says it is pushing for limits on the federal government’s control over Western land.
RELATED: FBI seeks ‘peaceful’ end to armed standoff at Oregon federal building
GOP candidates had largely been quiet on the Oregon clash since the weekend, although not all Republican campaigns have been mum. John Weaver, a senior aide for GOP candidate John Kasich, said in a tweet: “I know a good federal compound for Bundy and his gang: a U.S. penitentiary.” I know a good federal compound for Bundy and his gang: a U.S. penitentiary. This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Carrie Dann
Vaughn Hillyard is a senior White House reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
