Judge orders Berkeley tree sit-in to end

BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A California judge has ordered a long-running “tree-sitting” protest in Berkeley to come to an end.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Kelly granted the University of California Berkeley a preliminary injunction aimed at bringing the protesters down from the treetops where they have been perched for nearly a year.

The protesters are trying to block the school’s plans to cut down the oak grove for construction of a new sports facility. The university contends the protest should be held in a safer location.

Keller said that while the protest was indeed an exercise in free speech, there were limitations to that right, including the protection of university property, according to Tuesday’s San Francisco Chronicle.

Protesters told the newspaper they would not abandon the tree houses they have holed up in and questioned how allowing the oaks to be cut down was protecting university property.