Extra

Posted Tue., Feb. 19—The 444-day-old battle of attrition between UC Berkeley and the Memorial Stadium tree-sitters flared again Tuesday morning, with the university claiming the victory. 

The casualties were limited to one fallen arboreal crash pad and some rope lines that enabled protesters to move from one tree to another high above the ground. 

The branch-borne protest is aimed at protecting the grove, where the university plans to ax a venerable collection of Coastal Live Oaks, a redwood, and other species to make way for a high tech gym and office complex. 

“We’re taking the opportunity today because there are fewer numbers in the trees to take out the lines and any materials that put people at risk, and also one platform,” said Mitch Celaya, deputy chief of UC Berkeley Police. 

“We are not planning to remove any protesters today,” he added. 

“This is not a prelude to a change in stance,” said Dan Mogulof, executive director of UC Berkeley’s public affairs office. He said the raid was done for safety reasons, and wasn’t part of any effort to evict the tree-sitters. 

Performing the work in the branches was an arborist who scaled the oak where tree-sitter Karuna had been residing on a platform beneath a large plastic tarp. Armed with a pair of long-handled branch cutters, he snipped lines and the platform’s support as other tree-sitters and watchers on the sidewalk called out taunts. 

“Don’t mind me. I’m just doing my job,” called out one tree-sitter in a mockery of the bureaucratic mantra. “Shame,” called a voice from the sidewalk. 

Meanwhile, one protest supporter was walking through the small crowd gathered along the sidewalk on the eastern side of Gayley Road, carrying a cardboard tray of coffee cups and asking reporters and uniformed university police if they wanted some. 

And there were journalists aplenty, with TV camera operators aimed either at the action in the fenced-in grove or at reporters doing live stand-ups and interviews. 

Doug Buckwald of Save the Oaks and veteran tree-sit supporter said he doubted the university’s rationale for the raid. 

“We don’t know what safety issues were being addressed by removing supplies and safety lines,” he said. “That doesn’t make any sense. And how can they justify the increased police presence at the grove when there has been an increase in violent crime near the campus?” 

On the legal front, the battle of the grove is heading toward a climax, with a March 7 hearing in a Hayward courtroom slated for the final arguments in the lawsuit filed by the City of Berkeley, Councilmember Dona Spring, the California Oak Foundation and city neighbors. 

A final decision in that case should follow within 30 days. 

That suit seeks to overturn the action by UC Regents approving the critical environmental document needed before the university can build the Student Athlete High Performance Center at the site of the grove as well as an underground parking lot and other nearby construction projects. 

The university has already won a restraining order against the tree-sitters, and has made frequent arrests of the sitters and their supporters. 

Mogulof and Celaya said the action Monday had no connection to the recent tree-sitter protest against the radio station KPFA. Both said they weren’t aware of the campaign until a reporter asked them about it. 

Zachary Running Wolf, who launched the protest on Big Game Day 2006, said the station was being targeted because they weren’t covering the tree-sit. 

Meanwhile, supporters of the tree-sit have scheduled their next rally for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, where they will send up new supplies to those remaining in the branches.