Right-wing militants try to storm hospital to protest 'medical kidnapping' of woman who refused COVID-19 test
Right-wing militants activated by Ammon Bundy stormed a Washington state hospital where a woman was quarantined after allegedly refusing a coronavirus test.
Bundy, who led the 2016 occupation at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, claimed a 74-year-old woman was being held at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center after refusing the COVID-19 test, and a group of anti-government activists showed up at the hospital Friday to protest what they called a "medical kidnapping," reported the Seattle Times.
Nearly two dozen Clark County sheriff's deputies secured the hospital, where as many as 30 self-identified members of People's Rights -- a collection of militia groups, right-wing extremists, and anti-mask and anti-vaccine activists -- harassed hospital workers from outside the emergency room and demanded the woman's release.
The woman's daughter called 911 on Friday afternoon to report that her mother was being held against her will, but a deputy said the older woman said she wished to remain at the hospital to receive treatment but asked to leave about 8 p.m. -- and was released about 45 minutes later.
The crowd drifted away once the woman left.
The sheriff's office confirmed the woman had refused a COVID-19 test but showed no symptoms, but was placed in 24-hour quarantine for protection while she received medical treatment for what protesters described as a urinary tract infection.
Protesters also said the older woman had a brain tumor and was easily confused, so she relied on her daughter for assistance.
The hospital went into lockdown after some of the protesters tried to force their way inside.
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