Feature Archives

On Thursday August 21st, the University of California cut off branches from trees used by tree-sitters. Limbs were cut off of two or more oak trees in the middle of the grove. The extractors then used a large crane with four people in a basket and cut down two five gallon jugs of water, several bags of food, other gear. They almost succeeded in cutting down one of the platforms but were prevented from doing so by those in the trees.

Family and friends of Anita Gay, the 51-year-old grandmother gunned down by the Berkeley Police on February 16, held a two-hour street rally at the corner of Ashby and Martin Luther King Drive in Berkeley to draw attention to the large number of murders by police in the East Bay.

Many activist groups intend to travel from the Bay Area in the coming week to protest the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Indybay will be featuring reports by activists who will be at the DNC, protesting the Democrats. We encourage all people who are going to the DNC to publish photos, videos, and reports from the streets.

On Saturday, August 9th, anti-nuclear protesters gathered at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on the 63rd anniversary of the U.S. dropping the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. They were joined by Reverend Nobuaki Hanaoka, who survived that devastating attack and called for the “complete elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.”

On August 4, a partial hearing on Stephanie Tang took place in Alameda County Court. Tang, a long time organizer with World Can’t Wait (WCW), is facing up to one year in jail and $1000 in fines, stemming from an ongoing effort by WCW to shut down the Marine Recruiting Station in Berkeley. This specific charge is connected to a demonstration on Feb. 22, in which Tang, although assaulted by Berkeley Police, was charged with obstruction of an officer.

Within weeks of forming a union, employees of Bay Area News Group were shocked at the seemingly retaliatory firings of at least 20 journalists who had worked to form the East Bay bargaining unit. Last week, the Northern California Media Workers Guild filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. The 230-member Bay Area News Group East Bay bargaining unit includes the Oakland Tribune and other East Bay papers, as well as the San Mateo County Times on the peninsula.

On July 22nd, Judge Barbara Miller upheld U.C. Berkeley's plans for an athletic training center in the Memorial Oak Grove. The order will end an injunction that had blocked destruction of the grove. On Thursday, July 24th, the Berkeley City Council will likely make its final decision about whether or not to pursue an appeal. Supporters of an appeal plan will meet at the grove at 3:30pm and march to City Hall at 4pm before the 5pm public hearing.