Report & more photos from Dec. 17 police actions at UCSC tree-sit

The real "clean-up" action at the site was taken by tree-sit organizers themselves, who removed the ground camp in its entirety and extensively cleaned the area last Friday (Dec. 14th) in preparation for Winter Break. All that the tree-sitters left on the ground was the empty Elfland-style "dens" made of branches, a picnic table, a "Save Upper Campus" info-board and a few colorful garden-boxes.

Naturally, tree-sitters and their supporters did not take the appearance of a police-accompanied cherry-picker lightly. Emergency phone calls and emails were made, and over the next couple of hours, 40 or so people showed up to see what was going on and show support. As the University-ordered antics proceeded, observers stood nearby with cameras and loud mouths.

The starring role of the backhoe was to take a few small planter boxes harboring young kale, beets and lettuce in to its steel jaws. The cherry-picker noisily lifted in to the air to clip down a giant banner that was suspended between trees. It then reached menacingly higher, towards the upper banner ("Stop UCSC Expansion"), only to stop in mid-air and retreat back to the ground. The next toy that rolled up was a street-sweeper, which rolled around in circles, removing all the redwood "duff" (leaf-litter) that had accumulated in the parking lot.

Were we about to witness an attempt at forcibly removing the tree-sitters? Although an officer stated that extraction was not part of the plan, cops lie, and there was no way to be sure until the cherry-picker made a final retreat.

It has been suggested in other reports that this police maneuver may have been a way of testing the water in preparation for removing the tree-sitters at a later date. But most everyone, UC administrators included, agree that extraction remains far too dangerous to be a feasible option for the University. In Berkeley, where a tree-sit on UCB campus has been established for over a year, extraction has been considered at length by administrators, and ultimately dismissed.