Cops Arrest Tree-Sitters In L.A.

Hours after deputies evicted farmers and their supporters from a mini-farm in urban Los Angeles, some would-be protesters remained at the site's entrance.

Seventeen people on the 14-acre plot were arrested early Tuesday. Two of them, plucked from a walnut tree where they'd been for days, were actress Daryl Hannah and environmental activist John Quigley, famed for his tree-sitting tactics.

Another 27 demonstrators who were outside the green area were also arrested, for blocking the street.

The several hundred who regrouped by the fence Tuesday night say they fear landowner Ralph Horowitz may bring in bulldozers to begin leveling the plots. If the 'dozers show up, the protesters say they'll block the gate.

The farm, within the city limits, has walnut trees, avocados and many other crops – tended by about 350 neighbors and lauded by even the mayor as "an oasis in a sea of industry and concrete."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the evictions "unfortunate, disheartening" as he expressed frustration that a deal could not be reached despite months of negotiations with Horowitz.

"Every time we seem to get close, it unravels," said Villaraigosa, stressing that Horowitz would not "commit to preserving this land for urban farming."

The owner of the land says he's allowed the farming for years, but feels at this point he ought to get a "thank you" for the over 14 years of free use of his land which he now wants to use for a warehouse.

Tuesday morning, it took hundreds of law enforcement officers – arriving in the pre-dawn hours - to remove the protesters from the trees and surrounding streets.

When it all was over, the garden was under guard by men in black T-shirts marked with the word "Security," tire marks ran over crushed plants, and young fruit trees and corn stalks lay toppled on the ground.

Maria de Jesus Cruz cried as she surveyed the damage from outside the garden, where she said she had farmed for nine years. A chain-link fence that enclosed her plot of land lay on the ground.

"Everything that was here, they destroyed," said Cruz, 42, who grew onions, lemons and nectarines.

"This was right in the center of the city, a nice, green place with flowers and plants," she said in Spanish. "We liked coming here to spend our time."

Some of the damage appeared to have been caused by a small earthmover that cleared a path for fire truck that was brought in to pluck Hannah and Quigley from their perches high in the branches of a walnut tree in the middle of the garden.

The pair raised their fists as they were brought down in a fire truck bucket.

"Daryl, we're with you!" protester Jenny Flores yelled through a megaphone from a nearby street.

"I'm very confident this is the morally right thing to do, to take a principled stand in solidarity with the farmers," said Hannah in a cell phone interview with The Associated Press before police reached her tree and took her into custody.

Protesters linked arms and sat on train tracks, drawing officers with helmets and batons. Officers dragged some protesters away while other officers forced supporters back.

Inside the garden, firefighters had to cut free protesters who had chained themselves to the walnut tree, barrels filled with concrete and a picnic table.

The garden was finally cleared just after noon. Some protesters remained nearby with officers watching. Others went to City Hall, where they chanted "Save the farm."

Horowitz says he has been paying $25,000 to $30,000 a month in mortgage and other land costs.

"We've made, in the last three years, enough of a donation to those farmers," he says. "I just want my land back."

"The gardeners don't make the rules. They don't violate court orders at their will, promise to get off the land and not get off, demand that they be given the land for free. There's an end to this type of thing," he said.

Horowitz also says the city has provided alternate locations for the gardeners and most have left. In a statement, City Councilwoman Jan Perry also says many gardeners have moved to new garden sites.

The effort to save the farm has attracted the support of numerous activists and celebrities, including Hannah, Quigley, country singer Willie Nelson, actor Danny Glover, folk singer Joan Baez and tree sitter Julia Butterfly Hill.

Supporters moved onto the property full-time in mid-May and occupied the walnut tree after a judge issued an eviction order.

The roots of the dispute go back to the 1980s, when the city forced Horowitz to sell the land to for $4.8 million for a trash-to-energy incinerator. The project fizzled and the city turned the land over to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which allowed people to begin gardening there after in the early 1990s.

Horowitz sued to get the site back and the city settled in 2003 by selling it to him for $5 million.

Garden supporters took legal action, but ultimately the state Supreme Court decided against hearing the case.

In the meantime, Horowitz offered to sell 10 acres of the land for $16.3 million to a trust set up on behalf of the farmers. The group failed to raise the money before the purchase option expired May 22, and Horowitz got the eviction order.

Horowitz said he intends to find tenants for the land and will not sell it to any gardeners or their supporters.

"This one they're not getting," he said.

The farmers' attorneys have their eyes now on a July 12th court date for a legal claim that the city's sale was essentially a backroom deal and is not valid.

It may be quite some time before the dispute is finally resolved.

"Even if the judge rules in our favor," cautions attorney James Lafferty, "it doesn't mean the farmers can come back immediately... It's going to be a long fight to make sure they get the property back."