For about one year now, students at Berkeley University of California have been protesting the building of a $125 million training center for the university's sports teams. Students have been holding a tree-sitting protest for a year now, and university officials are beginning to take action. The new sports center will destroy dozens of evergreen coast live oaks in a field on campus. Officials have won the right to remove the protesters, however it will be extremely difficult.
There have been plenty of suggestions on how to oust the students, from fire hoses, to tranquilizer darts, even skunk spray, however university officials have yet to make a drastic move. They have placed wire fences around the area, and even considered trimming lower branches of the trees to make it difficult to transport necessities up to the sitters. However both sides say they do not want a big confrontation.
Most of the sitters rotate shifts, spending a few hours to a few weeks in the trees while others hoist up supplies and food. Two people have already fallen from the trees breaking bones. It is unclear how long this protest will go on, or what the next step will be, but hopefully the two parties will reach a mutual decision to please everyone.
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