Ammon Bundy, a far-right activist who has built a reputation by clashing with law enforcement on multiple occasions, has been arrested by police in Meridian, Idaho, on a charge of trespassing.
Mr Bundy, who is running for governor in Idaho, was leading a group of protesters expressing outrage at authorities for taking a malnourished child into protective custody.
According to police, the protesters arrived at St Luke’s Meridian Medical Centre demonstrating against the “kidnapping” of the child, and refused to leave the area when asked to do so.
In a statement, Mr Bundy’s campaign wrote that he was arrested “while standing for parental rights and against medical tyranny” and for “the crime of disagreeing with the hospital and CPS.
“Make no mistake about it, this was an ambush arrest with no legal grounds.”
However, the Meridian police gave a more detailed account of what had happened to the child, explaining that he was first admitted to the hospital for severe malnourishment before being returned to his parents.
“During a follow-up appointment earlier this week,” the force said in a statement, “it was determined the child had again lost a significant amount of weight and when the parents cancelled the next follow-up appointment and could not be located, the Meridian Police were contacted and advised this child’s condition could lead to severe injury or even death if not treated.”
After the child’s father failed to bring the child in for a requested examination, officers reportedly visited the parents’ home and found them “uncooperative”.
Serving a warrant to empty the home, they found the family gone, but were later able to take the child into custody after he was found with his parents during a traffic stop.
Mr Bundy’s website has a page dedicated to updates on the child’s case. Headed “BABY CYRUS WAS KIDNAPPED!!!” it makes assorted unverified claims about the child’s health and accuses the hospital of doing him “great harm”.
Having been arrested several times in the past few years for his activism – including twice in two hours for allegedly trespassing at the Idaho Statehouse – Mr Bundy last week filed his papers to stand as an independent candidate for governor of Idaho.
He has harshly criticised Republican governor Brad Little as insufficiently right wing for the solidly Republican state.
