As previously posted, a
long-running dispute continues between UC Berkeley and protesters over the proposed construction of an athletic training center on the location where a grove of old redwood trees currently stand.
Four protesters have been living in a treehouse perched in one of the redwood trees while their law suit to prevent the construction continues. Yesterday, arborists were brought in to cut branches on the redwood under the treehouse, and on trees next to it, in order to make it harder for the protesters to move around.
"There is still a court order in effect protecting those trees, so by cutting the branches they are in violation of the order," said a protester who gave her name as Dumpster Muffin. University spokesman Dan Mogulof responded that the court order barring the school from cutting down the trees to start construction did not apply to pruning for safety measures.
Arborists also tore down some tarps on the treehouse because they were worried the protesters could be hiding excrement that they might dump on workers on the ground. Police Chief Victoria Harrison rode in a cherry picker close to the redwood to explain to those living in the treehouse "that they would not be forcibly removed," Mogulof said.
