Gathering at Tree-Sit Thanksgiving as Police Escalate Arrests and Harassment

Berkeley-UC Berkeley (UCB) police have stepped up their efforts to shut down the nearly year-long protest at the Memorial Oak Grove in Berkeley, where the University wants to level the trees for a massive construction project, and a diverse community of people including tree-sitters have been defending the trees and a Native American burial site the development would desecrate. Several arrests have taken place in recent days, including those at a indigenous prayer vigil last Wednesday night, through Monday’s arrest of Ayr, well-known organizer and primary ground support for the tree-sitters, who was arrested at a nearby coffee shop. The day prior, Zachary Running Wolf, Native American activist who helped launch the tree-sit when he climbed a tree in the grove along with two other activists December 2, 2006 was arrested for the eighth time.

Oak supporters are calling for an 11 am Thanksgiving Day gathering at the Grove, located in the 2000 block of Piedmont Avenue in Berkeley, next to the International House and Bancroft Way. A group of mothers will bring holiday pies to feed the sitters, and a “Thanksgiving Turkey” will walk up to the grove with food for the tree defenders as well.

UCB posted copies of an injunction they say allows them to arrest those “acting in concert” with the tree-sitters, and have blocked food and water supplies going to the sitters, as well as harassing and arresting those supporters attempting to remove buckets of waste from the tree-sitters and supply for basic needs. UCB recently constructed a second barbed-wire fence around the Memorial Oak Grove, at a cost of $80,000, enclosing approximately ten tree-sitters inside. Exactly what constitutes "acting in concert" is debatable. Anyone handing anything up to the trees: food, water, or supplies including buckets for human waste, is subject to a $1,000 fine and/or five days in jail. UCPD officers have further alleged that talking to tree-sitters is a violation.

UC Police have not wasted any time in enforcing their new privileges. Police presence and harassment has increased and UCPD officers are randomly threatening supporters for simply being on site, and have intentionally provoked ground-supporters by stealing personal property. Harassment of the tree-sitters has increased as well. Intense lights powered by noisy gas-generators are pointed upwards into the trees at the sitters every night, making a good nights rest impossible.

It appears UC has adopted a "starve-out" strategy, hoping to force the sitters out by isolating them from ground support, depriving them of sleep, warm food, and water.

A decision in several lawsuits challenging UCB’s development plans is expected any day by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller. It is illegal under City of Berkeley law to cut heritage oaks such as the trees in the grove under the Berkeley Coast Live Oak Moratorium.

Supporters the tree-sit and the preservation of the grove, ask the UC Berkeley administration to allow the removal of human waste from the trees, the continued open supply of food and water.

For immediate release: November 21, 2007

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