Violent Arrests Made At Prayerful Gathering to Support Berkeley Tree-Sit

Violent Arrests Made At Prayerful Gathering to Support Berkeley Tree-Sit
by oak grove

Thursday Nov 15th, 2007 8:40 AM
Violent Arrests Made At Prayerful Gathering to Support Berkeley Tree-Sit;
Indigenous Peoples Decry Human Rights Abuses

Berkeley, CA -- Three people were violently arrested by University of
California (UC) police officers at a midnight prayer vigil at the
long-standing Oak Grove tree-sit on UC Berkeley's campus. More than 40
people, lead by a group of Indigenous peoples, walked in procession to the
Tree-sit to show support for Human Rights and Sacred sites and hold a
prayerful candlelight vigil at the area, which is a sacred Ohlone burial
ground.

"We heard that UC Berkeley wasn't allowing any food or water to be given
to the tree sitters so we went to bear witness and offer our prayers,"
said Jimbo Simmons of the International Indian Treaty Council. "We were
offering prayers and tobacco for the defense of this sacred Ohlone site
and held a peaceful vigil for about an hour, then we witnessed one of the
tree-sitters being violently attacked by a police officer. More officers
arrived wielding batons and were very aggressive, they pushed me and
abusively arrested two other people," Simmons stated.

In the peaceful actions that lead up to the arrests, members of the
diverse group of supporters made an offering of ceremonial sage, water,
food and prayer songs to the tree-sitters to resist illegal sanctions of
food and water placed by the University.

Earlier in the day, University officials declared that no food, water, or
"objects" could be delivered to the forest defenders, in an attempt to
starve the resisters out of the trees.

"We came out to pray and offer medicine," said Morning Star Gali of the
Pit River Tribe and part of a Native American Graves and Repatriation
(NAGPRA) Coalition. "The cops responded with riot gear and violence."

"This exhibits the ongoing Human Rights abuses committed by the
University. They refuse to comply with NAGPRA by holding 13,000 of our
ancestors remains and now they assault us while we pray at our burial
grounds."

An hour into the vigil, one of the tree-sitters came down to see what was
going on and a security officer grabbed his leg and violently pulled him
to the ground from the tree he was in. The officer brutalized the
tree-sitter for up to 5 minutes within the fenced area while pushing his
face into the metal fence in front of the crowd.

Up to 30 additional police officers arrived, many in riot gear, some with
shotguns. They proceeded to aggressively attack the peaceful crowd with
batons, injuring the finger of a journalist and brutally arresting two
more supporters.

At some point during the brutal police attack, both fences surrounding the
tree-sit were apparently torn.

"This wasn't an isolated attack on our peaceful protest," stated Ayr, a
founder of the tree-sit.

Zachary Running Wolf, also a founder of the tree-sit, was arrested the
previous night on charges of vandalism and trespassing, although he was
not at the scene at the time of the alleged crimes.

"This is a clear issue of racial profiling and targeting of a well-known
Indigenous activist," said Ayr.

"With the addition of two fences and cutting off the tree-sitters access
to food and water, the University is escalating the situation by choosing
violence and confrontation instead of the peaceful resolutions that we
have presented," Ayr stated.

The tree-sitters have agreed to come down if the University agrees to
protect the site from any and all development.

"They put more fences up after they said they were going to take them all
down 3 days ago. They should immediately remove them and stop arresting
the brave people defending this Sacred site. The University should also
immediately release all political prisoners that have been arrested," Ayr
said.

The prayer vigil was held in anticipation of a pending court decision
concerning the legality of UC Berkeley's plans.

Judge Barbara Miller is expected to return her decision any day in the
multiple lawsuits against the stadium expansion project. UC Police are
preparing for the violent extraction of all the tree sitters. UC Berkeley
officials have stated that no matter what Judge Miller decides the
University will try to end the tree-sit protest.

"What occurred tonight is a clear violation of our Human Rights." Stated
Jimbo Simmons. "As native people we pray, as Sundancers we pray to the
trees, to Grandfather and to Creator. Some have used the tree as a way of
communicating with the Creator. The trees represent part of that
connection. The threat of these trees being cut down is also a violation
of our rights."

"We'll be continuing to go to the Oak Grove to offer our prayers. Is this
how the police are going to respond?" stated Mr. Simmons.