Only in Berkeley: Police finally move on trespassing tree-sitters
Update: Protest Shooter has photos.
More than a year ago, I told you about the property rights violators in Berkeley who’ve been living in trees on the UC campus to protest scheduled renovations and development. The trees aren’t endangered species or old-growth. University officials plan on replacing them three to one. No matter. The tree squatters broke the law, anyway. And campus police haven’t had the guts to kick them out.
‘Til now.
A Berkeley reader e-mails that action is finally being taken this morning:
Hi Michelle: Thought you’d like to know that UC Berkeley Police are in the process of evicting the tree sitters near Memorial Stadium. They have the whole area around the Stadium closed off and are lowering staff into the trees using a large crane. They’re trying to get the people out first and then take down the structures.
Kalifornia Kafir
Another eyewitness account: “This is happening right outside the building that I work in. Haha, it’s pretty hilarious, actually. Most of the people who were watching this happen were cheering the police. One guy started booing all the hippies. Some old hippie lady and some old guy got in his face with flurry of F-words. He just laughed in their faces. I’m guessing he’s one of the physical plant employees here at the university. Most of his buddies were there, laughing too. This is good news for all of us Cal Football fans. ”
Sounds like quite a scene. Keep a lookout on YouTube for the video. Instant comedy classics in the making. The Daily Californian reports that the moonbats are pouring crap on the officers. Par for the course:
The tree-sit that has been going on for more than 18 months in the oak grove near Memorial Stadium may have reached its end now that UCPD officers are attempting to take the sitters out.
In the latest of several developments, an arborist harnessed on the end of a crane was mobilized onto one of the trees. There, he attempted to cut down a structure in the tree when a tree-sitter began hitting him with a plastic bottle. The arborist was pulled out of the tree by the crane, but since then he has continued to cut other structures.
Estimated to be eight to 12 in number, none of the sitters have been removed from the trees, but arborists have cut down several of their supplies and structures. Two cherry pickers carrying police officers are also on the site. The officers have cut some of the structures and ropes that the sitters use to travel between the trees.
About 100 onlookers watching the scene from Piedmont Avenue, while several tree-sit supporters on the ground are yelling to people in passing cars.
At least 20 UCPD officers in hard hats are currently at the scene. Beginning at approximately 6 a.m., they erected a third barrier around the oak grove that blocks pedestrians from using the sidewalk on the west side of Piedmont.
Some of the tree-sitters could be heard yelling from the trees while several of them have poured excrements down to UCPD officers below.
KTVU has TV coverage:
Over the last year, the protesters have constructed an elaborate system of platforms, rope bridges and pulleys in the trees while police have made dozens of arrests and issued 200 citations.
Meanwhile, university officials won the right in court in November to remove the protesters, but haven’t decided how to do it.
Under the court order, protesters can be jailed for five days and fined up to $1,000. While the protesters can be removed, another court hearing is underway trying to decide if construction can actually begin.
“I don’t think a year ago that anyone could’ve predicted it would’ve lasted this long,” said UC-Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof. “And it’s really regrettable that it has. It’s cost us a lot of resources, a lot of manpower.”
School officials said the protest has cost the school nearly $370,000 for security staffing and for fencing to limit access to the grove.
Cal also hired outside archaeologists to disprove the tree-sitters’ claims that the grove is a sacred Indian burial ground.
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ahhhh yes…when their football program goes in the crapper we’ll know the reason why…
Wrong sequence of events here. Cut the trees down first and if the “tree sitters” are still alive, then remove them otherwise leave them for compost which is what they are.
.
Looks like a job for AXMEN! Just start cutting, they’ll come down one way or another.
They might drop a line to these guys if they run out of ideas.
http://www.stihl.com/
Just chop the trees down at the base, that’ll solve the problem.
Ewww! I do feel for the UCPD now that the moonbats have reverted to using biological warfare against them. Isn’t that a violation of international law?
who needs youtube the mind visual is cracking me up.
Berkley, hahahahh
Couldn’t have happened to better place….
hohooho hahaha!!!
How about tear gas or mace and avoid getting crap thrown on you?
Isn’t that considered assault? And considering that human feces carry a wide variety of dangerous organisms,assault with intent to create bodily harm?
I’m obviously not a lawyer,maybe one of y’all can tell me.
I think that is cause enough to use the taser.. *big grin*
an arborist
First read that as abortionist. I like my version better.
let fish and game get em out, works with bears. lmao.
It’s the brown bomber machine causing all that crap to fall.
The police ought to charge them with assault AND–probably considered more damaging to the tree-sitters–littering…
What the H E dbl L is wrong with our Law and Order, our gov’t & our police in this country?
I would have had them out and jailed in 18 minutes, not months.
Fire the officials, jail the loony toon tree huggers and sue them to pay for all the damages…done deal.
for that much money they could have built a nice wall around it, an admission gate, charged for entry like a zoo and called it
“human moron exibit”
with a nice water feature and concession stand.
370 grand…????
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!!!
I’d have thought a few well-aimed paintball guns would’ve done the trick.
My god…..370 thousand bucks wasted because of those loons….
Whose funding the tree-sitting “protestors”?
370,000 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My $$$ and yours (taxes)!!!
I want it back!1
It’s a crappy job, but somebody has to do it…
Alright that one is a bit overused, but it just never gets old.
It’s a good thing California has lots of treehuggers, otherwise they would sue to get themselves placed on the endangered species list and we would never get them out of the trees – an example of devolution in progress.
Didn’t the Mayor of Berkeley live in a tree or sumtn’ crazy. Weirdos.
I’m with you AJ; One tranq dart in the butt, rinse, repeat.
This could have been solved 18 months ago with a chain saw & 2 bucks worth of gas & oil.
I’d like to see the human version of that ‘bear in tree gets tranquilizer dart, falls onto tarp & bounces off’ solution.
Great U-Tube video, I’d be sure… set to the background music of ‘It’s Raining Men’….
On a serious note –
“while several of them have poured excrements down to UCPD officers below.”
I’ll bet these are the same type of moron who ballyhooed about making a prisoner pyramid at Abu Gharaib and demonized the military as ‘inhumane’…
Sleep depravation of a terrorist – Cataclysmic
Pouring your crap on a campus cop because you want to protect a damn tree – Perfectly acceptable.
Idiots.
So that’s $370K these sh*tbirds owe the university? They’d better pick up some extra shifts at Peet’s.
spending that kind of money is ridicules on the university’s part, a fire hose of constant rain on them for a few days (if it took even that long) would have had them out in no time. unreal they let these asshats get away with this baloney for so long.
So, this is what spoiled brats with trust funds do? Please, oh please, send them to South Florida so we can teach Californians how to deal with these idiots! That would amke a great Youtube video.
Didn’t they consider the feeeeeeeelings of the treeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees?
I could definitely think of better things to do with 370k of our money. I am with you on the chainsaw. I got an 056 Stihl I would have donated … as long as I could run it!
As for the alleged dumping of humans and human waste, would there be any way to tell the difference?
#24
Dave, I have a chainsaw they can borrow. They just need to furnish the gas and bar oil.
I also have a couple of shotguns they can borrow to take care of the “mud slingers.” Since it’s in Berserkley, I know nobody has their own gun so I’ll need to lend them mine.
I say napalm the son-ah-bitches.
It’s very simple. They are “domestic terrorists”. Build a jail around them and anyone who tries to help them gets charged with supplying material aid to terrorists. Lock up the whole lot of these freaks.
Protest is fine, but you do it legally. If you don’t like what the University is doing talk to the courts and the media. It is illegal to occupy property without permission. They pay fines, damages, rent and go to jail. Can we throw in some re-education while we’re at it?
HEY BERKELEY, HAVE YOU EVER HEARD THE SAYING “YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW”? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE LIVING IT RIGHT NOW!
18 months?! Seriously? Don’t any males in Berkeley actually have any balls (aside from the Marines at the recruiting center)? A few chainsaws and you’d you have them down in 18 minutes.
I hope the police sue anyone who hit them with excrement. Remember when Dave Matthews’ tour bus accidently dumped their its over the Chicago river onto a tourist boat below? His band had to pay quite a large sum to settle that mistake! Hit these trust fund babies’ rich parents up for the settlement! That makes me sick!
I’m sure the other students will appreciate the increase in their tuition next year to cover the cost of this circus.
Sorry, fixed that.
a water hose would serve double purpose: knock the nuts out of the trees with the force of the water & give them a bath at the same time. who said us conservatives are against conservation, you get 2 for 1 & probably a very funny video thrown in for free
how do you accidentally drop waste into a river?
Forget the chainsaw – flush ‘em out with fire hoses – I’m sure they all could use a bath – followed by removal and area sanitizing by a bio-hazard team.
Wow! Rusty posts from a tree!
There are, unfortunately, some people who really won’t be satisfied until the last pitiful remnants of humanity are literally living in the trees again.
These Berkeley types are merely showing us the way to “sustainable” lifestyles, no doubt. Although I thought that hitting the guy with a plastic bottle was a nice touch.
My sentiments, exactly! Both the hosing, and their removal would be good for the trees. For safety’s sake, airbags could be deployed under them to break their fall…of course, the airbags should only have a narrow diameter, say 12 inches.
And, I would expect the California University system to sue them for all the expenses this stunt has cost the university. A ban from all UC campuses would be nice, also.
Can fire ants be trained to climb trees? Just asking.
This is just what they deserve and we should have done about them decades ago:
just get a chainsaw, cut the trees down, and remember to yell TTTIIIMMMMBBBEEERRRRRR!!!!! as the hippies come crashing down.
And have some Lysol ready…hippies in trees tend to have a rather not so earthy smell!
What a waste of time. I like the environment, heck I love it, but they could have done better things with their time.
This obsession with trees is ridiculous.
Good call, Mrs. Malkin.
Wow… a Berserkly professor makes sense when writing about Gitmo, and the University finally gets serious about removing these freaks? What’s in the water out there? It’s like they are starting to make sense or something.
When you said “crap,” you meant it… ewww! A guy in Baltimore got 33 years for dumping some on an officer. Sounds good to me! And I agree with the poster who said to just cut the trees off at the base. They’re going to cut them down anyway, right? Might as well do the job right the first time!
Burn them down.
It’s a good thing they were still recycling. Imagine the poor image they would have if they used earth killing plastics. . . oh wait. . .
Well, I am always pretty well cocked and ready to go off at any provocation. And the hurling of excrement gets it done for me:
In my angry and righteous moral universe, hurling excrement at people doing their duty is a capital offense. Although legal prudence would suggest a more modest reaction, I’d love to see the cops riddle the excrement-hurling protesters with automatic weapons fire following the bodies with fire until they splattered on the ground and then hitting them with a few more rounds until they had bounced a couple of times.
It took me a minute to figure out why the tree sitter in the pic was wearing a mask. It is because there are actually far more of them than the ones seen in the trees. These people are not sitting there 7×24, they are sitting there in shifts. If the University actually wanted them removed, all they had to do was to cut off the supply lines, and the reinforcements, and wait em out. Considering this has been going on for months, the university has obviously been supporting these tree sitters the entire time.
Clearly the University officials should be held accountable for costing the State of California for all of this, and they should be removed today.
Sorry Freddy but you’re offbase. The site has been surrounded by a chainlink fence and 24-hr security for over a year. The protestors inside the fence have not been able to get in or out.
They keep their faces covered because they don’t want to be identified. Most likely, they have police records or don’t want their families to see them on tv.
As I’ve been saying for nearly a year to anyone that would listen (which was basically no one) that this protest has been partially funded by a tax free organization that is solicitating tax deductable donations for this illegal activity. The silence has been deafening. Still waiting to hear from my fine electeed officials in Sacramento and Washington….
I’d like to know what they get charged with for throwing feces on officers.
$370,000? Make them pay.
Shouldn’t they be yelling
“HHHIIIIIIIPPPPPPIIIIIEEEEESSSSS”??
********
UC should’ve advertised what they were about to do and charged a cover for spectators. Could’ve recovered some of the $370K they spent on these idiots.
Is a .270 Winchester 150-Grain Power-Point considered a tranquilizer dart?
$370,000? Hell, I can get a box of twenty .270 Winchester for $17 and I bet I’d have 18/19 left over. Send Me, Send Me! :0
#49 Freddy,
No, Freddy, they’re wearing the masks because even THEY can’t stand the smell up there. Sitting in a tree for 18 months with no shower and their own (ahem) excrement in jugs can start getting pretty potent up there, ya know.
And this is what passes as “rational” for liberals? Sitting in trees and pouring human excrement on people to protect something that isn’t there?
Excuse me, but either a pig just flew past my window or the last sane person left California prior to the start of today’s festivities.
Just get a fire hose and start washing them out of the trees. Give them 10 minutes warning and let it rip.
Frankly, it appears “gay marriage” really is the least of their problems in California. Who would have thought?
They should have brought a few of these in.
Once they get them down, they should be sent to a mental facility for an evaluation. These people are really nuts.
I wish it would have been resolved 18 months ago, unfortunately our university was mandated “not to substantially alter” the area encompassing the trees until a law suit against UCB by the City of Berkeley, the Panoramic Hill Association (those who live in the million dollar homes in the Berkeley Hills) and the lunatics known as “Save the Oaks”. The issue is our effort to renovate our athletic facilities which many of you are dangerously close the the San Andreas fault and in dire need of repair. If you want to read more here’s a great link.
http://stadiumcampaign.berkeley.edu/news-and-information/FactSheetFinal.pdf
This conjures up so much laughter. The youtube possibilities with the firehose alone.
So did they learn anything here? Give em an inch, they’ll take the whole tree.
Firehose in front of the Marine Recruiting Station on Wednesday afternoon could be the weekly code pinko solution just as quick (sans chainsaws of course).
Here’s one more article which covers the inimical effects of the obstruction we’ve dealt with in terms of the tree people and the City of Berkeley. Hope this emphasizes the point I made a few months ago as well: The City of Berkeley is not UC Berkeley.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/uc_berkeley_athletes_cramped_up/Content?oid=503648
Gives new meaning to the phrase, ‘Out of your tree’.
They’ve had since November to get them out of the trees? Sheesh.
Since the monkeys like hurling excrement so much, break out the crap cannons, then stand back.
Bleah.
It’s amusing, though, that they want to have discussions with those people in the trees. It’s like an Onion parody.
My vote for the theme song for this whole thing: Marty Casey’s “Trees.”
I have pictures!
http://www.protestshooter.com/20080617Oaks/
I think you may have a point:
This is a behavior of monkeys and some apes. Maybe they are devolved (or just never evolved!).
Answers a lot of questions I have had for a long time about liberals and Berkeleyites in particular…
Hi there Kalifornia Kafir!
At a minimum, someone is supplying them with water. And if they have a means to move water to that site, then there is little reason to believe that ‘other’ items (like food and people) are not being moved as well.
Never underestimate the ability of the ‘professional’ protester!
Seems like I remember a story like this from a few years ago, they never admitted what was going on till way after the fact – heh heh.
Hey! What’s wrong with that thing I said about machine-gunning’en and keep on pouring lead into their limp bodies after they fall from the trees to mak’em flap around on the ground a little?
That’s actually mistaken – there’s a utililty pole owned by the city (who’s on the tree sitter’s side) that they use to get in and out. The same people haven’t been there the same time – I have photos of lots of their faces and they change.
They actually have big resupply protests every Sunday at I think 2:00 – there are some branches going over the fence and they haul stuff up. The police have orders not to get involved unless people actually cross the fence.
On June 17th, 2008 at 12:41 pm, DaveC said:I think that is cause enough to use the taser.. *big grin*
DON”T ARBOR ME BRO
563 days?
I don’t understand. Wouldn’t 20 gage salt shot take care of this loon toon infestation toot sweet?
Krykee. People make things sooo difficult!
My favorite hippie protest moment was when the University of Montana was playing the University of Idaho around the time of the start of the Gulf War. It was on ESPN, so it was a big deal game. The hippies all ran out on the court and laid down on the court. Then,before the cops had a chance to drag them away (at least one of them by the hair) they were pelted with potatos, because, after all, it was the Idaho game.
Poofie! I can only imagine the food this type eats anyway, and the resulting feces…bran, pine cones, tofu, fauxfu, notdogs, alfalfa…and they tell us bovine flatulence is causing global warming. Just…ewwww
Too bad they weren’t playing a team called the “Poisonous Sharp Darts”.
Wanna barrow my chain saw?
Poor squirrels…
Isn’t dumping excrement on people a form of bioterrorism?
local 5 pm news has reported 1 gal has been taken out of the trees. apparently she had bitten an arborist earlier.
i hope his shots are current.
also shown was some golden showers activity as the treehuggers poured their potty bottles on the folks down below who were trying to remove all the ropes that have been used by the tree people.
Raise your hand if you think they aren’t Obama supporters.
Chainsaw, we don’t need no stinkin’ chainsaw! Any one ever watch John Wayne with an axe??
Firefighters use a can of tuna to get cats out of trees, all they need to do was put an ounce of herb in a bowl and they would have crawled right down.
Sure!!, these Commie pukes really give a crap that the Oak grove is a memorial to WW-1 soldiers.
A “Barf” emoticon would be nice.
You’re right Freddy. They were using a network of wires to pull food/water into the fenced area. But the protestors who are inside have been there since the fences went up.
The Battle For The Oak Grove has begun.
The link is for a Cal sports page, but it has the most up to the minute breaking news anywhere.
Should be an interesting day.
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=166#s=166&f=1419
I would think a couple of fire hoses and some tear gas would work nicely.
Either that or just start cutting the trees and let the hippies jump for it.
YES! Get Melvin Lardy and the Stump Branch crew in there.
My guess would be felony assault on a police officer. That’s felony, with an “f’ as in “five years” in the Graybar Hotel.
Now my old great-grandpappy would just “bark em”. That is how he would get a squirrel. You don’t want to shoot a squirrel directly because the bullet would destroy the meat. So you would just shoot at the tree right next to the squirrel and the bullet would kick up the bark and stun the squirrel. The squirrel would fall to the ground where it could be picked up.
I say just BARK EM… and if you want to use the time to train your kids to shoot, let them have a few shots also… if you hit a few, who cares…there are a LOT of squirrels.
Meanwhile, university officials won the right in court in November to remove the protesters, but haven’t decided how to do it.
Shotgun always works…
Berkeley;
I love this so much. This little drama playing out on the streets is hilarious.
This could not happen to a more deserving group of leftists.