I fucking love Berkeley, Part Un

This morning I decided to take a little drive down Piedmont Avenue in Berkeley and check out the tree sitting situation, and it's a good thing I did because hot damn! some shit just went down. I had never seen so many people there, and I could feel the energy in the air, so I parked as close as I could and literally ran back there. The word was that the sitters were to be finally removed.

Okay, so first I was standing waaaaaay on the fringes of things, just with a couple other Cal students. I could tell they were students, not protestors, because they were wearing shoes, which none of the sitters or supporters felt were necessary. First impression of the people on the ground: LOUD. There was a fair amount of improvised drum banging, mainly on water jugs and buckets. Okay, so first they were chanting

Protect sacred sites!
Respect human rights!
UC Berkeley, do what's right!

It was then that a figure in black leggings, an orange skirt, and an orange scarf tied across her shoulders darted across the street and I realized that I was a mere SIX FEET from none other than Dumpster Muffin!! I actually recognized her from the outfit, which was the same one she was arrested in, and the same one she was wearing when she gave an interview to the Chronicle. It made me wonder if she either never showers or changes her clothes (most likely scenario) or if she has a special "protest outfit" that has just been called into use a lot lately. Anyhoo, she came over to help some of her fellow ground support team rile the crowd up a bit. Next, they handed the microphone over to a small Asian lady with a mohawk cut into her hair, who performed a nice version of

And everyone beneath their vine and fig tree
Shall live in peace and unafraid
And everyone beneath their vine and fig tree
Shall live in peace and unafraid
And into plowshares beat their swords
Nations shall make war no more...

for us all. HOWEVER, the tune she was singing was one that I happen to know was written by the cantor at Kehilla, my synagogue, so I had a pretty small world moment when I examined said mohawked Asian lady closer and was pretty sure I recognized her from temple. Good times.

Now, keep in mind that at this time, I was firmly ensconced in enemy territory - tree sitting supporters were ALL around me. The people yelling into the loudspeaker were urging "Wade" and "Victoria" to show compassion. "What compassion," the lady behind me complained bitterly, "the fucking UC has no compassion." I'm not sure who Wade is, but Victoria is Victoria Harrison, the chief of Cal police. Keep in mind that there were four cops SUSPENDED from a crane circling the sitters. Usually they go up in cherry pickers, but this was pretty hardcore, especially because it was WINDY today!! I thought maybe they were coming from the top in an effort to avoid being pelted with fecal matter? Anyhoo, they next turned the mike over to this guy that I recognized from all over Berkeley, a man who once freaked out on me for being on my cell phone in line OUTSIDE of the Cheese Board and who is known for standing in the middle of campus shrieking about students and their fucking cell phones and fucking cell towers destroying animal habitats and electromagnetic waves killing babies and shit, so I knew things were about to get interesting. Sure enough, his rant went something like this:

"UC BERKELEY IS COMMITTING A HATE CRIME RIGHT NOW. THEY ARE COMMITTING A HATE CRIME AGAINST THE OHLONE [local Indian tribe, one of the pro-tree arguments was that it was Indian burial ground] PEOPLE AND THEY ARE COMMITTING A HATE CRIME AGAINST THE WORLD'S OLDEST WORLD WAR ONE VETERAN [what the fuck? where did that come from?] WHO PERSONALLY CALLED THE UC AND BEGGED THEM TO SAVE THESE TREES, BUT SINCE THE UNIVERSITY IS IN CAHOOTS WITH BRITISH PETROLEUM [god knows where this one came from, but was hilar nonetheless] IN AN EFFORT TO SPREAD THEIR CAPITALISTIC ANTI ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN AGAINST THESE BEAUTIFUL TREES THEY DIDN'T LISTEN. PLEASE, VICTORIA, I BEG YOU TO STOP THIS MURDER OF THE TREES RIGHT NOW. AREN'T YOU A GOOD CHRISTIAN???? WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? [shit you not, he said that, to which crazy lady behind me said "or what would the goddess do?"] THInk ABOUT YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND YOUR CHILDREN, AND THE AIR YOU ARE DEPRIVING THEM OF IF YOU CUT THESE TREES DOWN. TO US, THESE TREES ARE OUR CHURCH. YOU ARE VIOLATING MY CHURCH [at this point the woman behind me mumbled to her cohort "I hate that word church. let's use "temple"] AND YOU ARE VIOLATING THE SACRED GROUND THAT THESE TREES ARE DEEPLY ROOTED IN...." I could go on, but you get the point.

Meanwhile, the construction crew hired by Cal was working on putting up a scaffolding, and the basket full of cops was still floating around. They were obviously communicating with the sitters, but to no avail. As the scaffolding continued higher, you could tell shit was about to come to a head. I had to go move my car, but don't worry, I went straight back. More to come momentarily...