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Berkeley tree-sitters still hanging on
Jun. 30, 2008 12:00 AM
Associated Press
BERKELEY, Calif. - In December 2006, protesters angry about campus expansion plans clambered into the branches of a threatened oak grove at the University of California-Berkeley.
The tree-sitters continue to sit.
There had been signs the protest might be coming to an end as a court case challenging a planned multimillion-dollar athletic-training facility inched closer to resolution.
This month administrators, who won a court order allowing them to evict the protesters at any time, cut supply lines, yanked a few protesters out of the trees and drove the rest into a single redwood. For a while, it looked like campus officials were prepared to starve protesters out.
But after the remaining half-dozen or so tree-sitters said they were a) not moving and b) rationing water, officials relented and offered sustenance to the protesters aloft.
"This misguided effort to preserve a 1923 landscaping project certainly doesn't warrant any action that could cause harm or permanent health consequences for anybody involved," said campus spokesman Dan Mogulof.
Protesters and their supporters say they are prepared to hold out.
Once the judge has issued a final ruling, it can be appealed. But construction could begin earlier if UC is successful in getting the injunction lifted.
Campus officials note that most of the trees were planted by the university in the 1920s. They have promised to plant three trees for every one felled. But tree-sitters say that is not acceptable
Jun. 30, 2008 12:00 AM
Associated Press
BERKELEY, Calif. - In December 2006, protesters angry about campus expansion plans clambered into the branches of a threatened oak grove at the University of California-Berkeley.
The tree-sitters continue to sit.
There had been signs the protest might be coming to an end as a court case challenging a planned multimillion-dollar athletic-training facility inched closer to resolution.
This month administrators, who won a court order allowing them to evict the protesters at any time, cut supply lines, yanked a few protesters out of the trees and drove the rest into a single redwood. For a while, it looked like campus officials were prepared to starve protesters out.
But after the remaining half-dozen or so tree-sitters said they were a) not moving and b) rationing water, officials relented and offered sustenance to the protesters aloft.
"This misguided effort to preserve a 1923 landscaping project certainly doesn't warrant any action that could cause harm or permanent health consequences for anybody involved," said campus spokesman Dan Mogulof.
Protesters and their supporters say they are prepared to hold out.
Once the judge has issued a final ruling, it can be appealed. But construction could begin earlier if UC is successful in getting the injunction lifted.
Campus officials note that most of the trees were planted by the university in the 1920s. They have promised to plant three trees for every one felled. But tree-sitters say that is not acceptable