top
East Bay
East Bay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Wed Feb 16 2011 (Updated 04/18/11)
People's Park Treesitter Forced from Tree and Arrested for Attempted Murder
Treesitter Midnight Matt Remains in Jail After Having Defended Himself from Aggressors
UPDATE: Tree-Sitter Released on April 4th After 67 Days in Jail; Still Faces Four Misdemeanor Charges

A nearly three-month treesit in People's Park in Berkeley ended in the early morning hours of January 28th when Midnight Matt, the primary sitter, was arrested on attempted murder charges. Reports have it that drunken instigators, perhaps working with or looking to please the Berkeley and/or UC police departments, climbed into the tree at night and confronted Midnight Matt. Threats were made against Midnight Matt and he tried to defend himself, demanding that the instigators leave the tree. One of the instigators ended up with a cut on his hand. The confrontation was then the justification BPD and UCPD used to call the Fire Department and extract Midnight Matt from the tree around 3am that morning.

None of the instigators were charged at the time — they claimed to have climbed into the tree to simply talk — but on February 7th one was arrested for battery in a separate incident in the park. Midnight Matt's charges were reduced to assault with a deadly weapon at his arraignment, but he remains in Santa Rita jail with his bail set at $100,000. Supporters are asking for donations to help make his $10,000 bond and for a show of support in court. Midnight Matt's next court date is April 4th at 9am in Dept. 115 of the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.

Read More: Can We Get a Midnight Matt Dodt Full Report, Please? | Matt Dodt's April 4th Court Date | Can We Get a Midnight Matt Update? | Support Midnight Matt, and tree sitting in Peoples park, at his next court date March 10th | Support Peoples Park tree-sitter Matt Dobt | Tree Sitter's Accuser Taken For Assault | Update 2/3/11: Midnight Matt in court for defending himself while tree-sitting | video Attempted Murder in the Park? | Report: Sunday People's Park Meeting | Sitting in a tree is not a crime! | People's Park Emergency Meeting | People's Park Treesitter Forced from Tree and in Santa Rita on Attempted Murder Charge

Previous Related Indybay Feature: Tree Sit in Muwekma (People's) Park in Berkeley
2024-03-20 Victory! EFF Helps Indybay Resist San Francisco Police Warrant and Gag Order Front Page | Police State & Prisons | Media Activism & Independent Media | San Francisco2024-02-09 Catholic Anti-Choice Marchers Get an Earful from Abortion Rights Activists in San Francisco Front Page | Health, Housing & Public Services | Womyn | San Francisco | South Bay | U.S.2024-01-10 Wall of Shipping Containers Intended to Keep the Public Out of People's Park Front Page | Police State & Prisons | Environment & Forest Defense | Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism | East Bay | California2023-12-08 Largest Ever Pro-Palestine Marches in NorCal Demand End to US Aid for Israel's War on Gaza Front Page | Anti-War | Central Valley | San Francisco | South Bay | Peninsula | U.S. | International | Palestine | Santa Cruz Indymedia2023-10-31 Three Activists Detained at Climate Protest for Crossing Beale Air Force Base Gate Front Page | Environment & Forest Defense | Anti-War | Central Valley | California | U.S.2023-09-29 California Climate Justice Actions in Coordination with Massive New York City March Front Page | Environment & Forest Defense | Central Valley | California2023-08-19 Environmentalists Speak Out Against Airport Expansion as Climate Disasters Accelerate Environment & Forest Defense | East Bay2023-08-12 Starbucks Bus Tour Stops in San Francisco, Rallies with Allies to Support Unionization Labor & Workers | San Francisco | Peninsula | California | U.S.2023-07-19 Halt to Fossil Fuel Funding Demanded as Wells Fargo Operations Shut Down Environment & Forest Defense | Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism | San Francisco | U.S.2023-07-13 Demonstrations Wrack France, Boiling Over After Police Murder of Youth Police State & Prisons | Health, Housing & Public Services | Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism | LGBTI / Queer | International | Government & Elections | Immigrant Rights2023-07-02 A Call for Pride to Return to its Roots as a Riot in Defense of LGBTQ+ Rights Health, Housing & Public Services | LGBTI / Queer | Womyn | San Francisco
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network