ELF Targets Federal Offices

AP 15mar01

SACRAMENTO - Two weeks after claiming responsibility for its first arson attack in California, the Earth Liberation Front has issued a nationwide call for "militant direct action" against FBI offices and other federal buildings.

The environmental group, which the FBI has called the nation's most dangerous domestic terror organization, issued a statement Tuesday asking its followers to engage in actions against the federal government on April 5.

The date coincides with the scheduled pretrial hearing of Frank Ambrose, who has been charged in Bloomington, Ind., with tree-spiking and is a suspected ELF member.

The call for action on April 5 came through e-mail messages forwarded by a group of activists based in Portland, Ore., who deny membership in the group. One of the activists, Leslie James Dickering, said he expects protest sites to include Sacramento or San Francisco.

The ELF claims to have set a Feb. 20 fire at a cotton gin near Visalia that caused $700,000 in damage.