BERKELEY, Calif. -- A judge issued a more than 100 page ruling late Wednesday that halts the construction of a training center on an old oak grove.
The split decision on the project will not allow that UC Berkeley to move forward with a plan take down several of old trees to build the sports facility because the project would have required the university to build on a fault line.
Police and arborists removed ropes, food and camping supplies from the tree sitters Tuesday.
Many supporters spent Tuesday night in sleeping bags, showing solidarity with the eight to 12 people who remain in the tree tops.
The group of tree-sitting protesters has tried to stop the construction of the athletic center by living in the grove for 565 days so far.
At least one tree sitter on Tuesday began throwing bags of human waste on the approaching arborists.
The university is turning up the heat on the protesters. One protester was taken down and arrested Tuesday after police said she hit and bit an arborist.
A woman who goes by the name "Millipede" was pulled from one of the trees at about 4:30 p.m. and was taken into police custody, Doug Buckwald said.
"They grabbed a woman and took her down from the tree as she was screaming," Buckwald said.
Charges might be filed against some protesters for attempting to assault police officers and arborists, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said.
About a dozen police officers were at the grove Wednesday morning. One of the officers told NBC11 reporter Lisa Bernard that so far, the scene Wednesday has been peaceful.
UC-Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said earlier Tuesday that campus police were trying to end what he called protesters’ "illegal and dangerous occupation" of trees next to the university’s football stadium.
[A copy of the ruling is on the website of the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda] |
