Police Stand Ready to Invade Santa Cruz Tree Sit! Solidarity Needed!

by Tree Sitters

Mon, Dec 17, 2007 9:28AM

Early this morning police arrived at the autonomous tree sit zone with gear - prepared to violently remove tree sitters who have occupied the space in opposition to the UC's Long Range Development Plan.

Supporters have just gotten text messages and calls verifying that the tree sitters in Santa Cruz are threatened with police attack! From what we understand the police are there at the tree sit on Science Hill and have gear that can be used to not only clear the space but also to get the tree sitters out of the tree. Our friends face arrest and possible police violence, we must act!

Several things you can do:
1.) Go to Santa Cruz and help the tree sitters and supporters on Science Hill.
2.) Call friends that live in the area who might be able to show support.
3.) Repost this message through online mediums, tell friends verbally, etc. Spread the word!
4.) Call the UC Santa Cruz Police at: (831) 459-2231 and flood them with calls.

For flyers, magazines, resources and information on why people are resisting the Long Range Development Plan which will level 120 acres of forest and further wed corporations to the UC system, go to: lrdpresistance.org

Up the resistance!

For more information: http://lrdpresistance.org

§Situation OK

by SMS

Mon, Dec 17, 2007 11:59AM

Tree sit safe. University cleared autonomous zone. Police gone for now.

To get emergency notifications about the UCSC tree-sit,
send a message from your cell phone or your computer to
lrr-add [at] riseup.net

§Recon Mission by UCSC Police & Admin

by danielsan

Mon, Dec 17, 2007 12:15PM

Fotos to come, but quick summary:

Police, workers, heavy equipment arrived to 'clean' up the parking lot at the base of the tree sit; several familiar faces on familiar cop bodies. Everyone said they weren't there to evict the tree-sitters, just to clean up. That entailed the destruction of a series of raised garden boxes, shelters made of brush and branches, and the removal of benches, information, signs, etc.

Folks trickled in to support the tree-sitters, including the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra and lots of campus, forest, and town community members.

In years past, UCSC has moved during scheduled vacations to destroy contested spaces and log forest to develop land for expansion. Without being *too* speculative, it looks like this may have been an information-gathering mission, where police were able to gauge community support (who came to support and when), gain temporary access to the base of the trees, remove the banner which would be in the way of any eviction/extraction, and confirm information about the setup for the three platforms.

In other words, they got the information they need to plan an extraction.

Be vigilant in the coming days and weeks.

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§Responding to inaccurate information

by Public Information Office, UCSC

Mon, Dec 17, 2007 1:15PM

The original posting on this subject is inaccurate in several ways:

- Campus police did not come to the site in riot gear.
- Grounds crews arrived to clean up a vacated site, and several police officers accompanied them for security reasons only.
- Campus personnel, including the police, announced that they were NOT there to remove people from the trees, only to clean up the site.

For more information: http://messages.ucsc.edu/text.asp?pid=1810

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§Crying wolf

by Jafo

Mon, Dec 17, 2007 5:14PM

Sounds likes a story about the boy who cried wolf. About time the place got cleaned up. Took far to long for this to happen!

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§re: crying wolf

by I think not

Tue, Dec 18, 2007 2:36PM

I don't think that this was a false alarm or crying wolf, given the presence of the cherry picker and cops. As danielsan wrote, "It seems that they came prepared for a full eviction/extraction, but decided to just lend a hand and 'clean up' a bit, instead."

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