Feb 19, 2008 8:53 pm US/Pacific
UC Berkeley Dismantles Part Of Tree-Sitters' Camp
BERKELEY (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
A group of tree-sitters who have spent more than a year occupying the University of California, Berkeley Oak Grove to protest the planned removal of the trees appear one step closer to losing their perch.
At least one climber, working for UC police, began dismantling sections of the tree-sitters' aboveground encampment in Berkeley on Tuesday.
University officials said safety concerns prompted a decision to cut the lines the up to 10 sitters have used to traverse from tree to tree to reach supply platforms.
"They have cut down supplies a number of times before, but when they try to limit supplies, the community has come forward to make sure they have everything they need to stay in the trees," Save the Oaks spokesman Doug Buchwald said.
The protest began in December 2006 after the UC regents voted to allow the university to chop dozens of the oaks to build a $125 million sports training facility near Memorial Stadium.
A judge ruled in October that the university had the right to forcibly remove the sitters, but the university has let them stay pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed to halt the project.
The Oak Grove is located just north of the intersection Bancroft Way and Piedmont Avenue, near the International House in Berkeley.
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