Second Fence Complete

Workers completed a 1,120-foot fence topped with barbed wire around the oak grove near Memorial Stadium yesterday, the first step toward forcibly removing protesters from the trees.

The campus sealed gaps this week in the new, $80,000 fence that were left open to facilitate movement into the stadium during the last home football game. In addition to the new fence, a fence was constructed in late August to separate football fans from protesters.

Tree-sit supporters called the new fence excessive and likened it to the campus’s attempts to secure People’s Park with a fence in 1969. At that time, authorities sent the police to clear the university-owned park, a move that led to violent clashes in which one person was killed and dozens were injured.

Protest leader Zachary RunningWolf has taken to calling the area inside the new fence “Guantanamo Berkeley.”

Three groups have sued the university over its plans for the stadium area, which include a proposed athletic center on the grove site. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller could issue a ruling in the case at any time.

Mike Kelly, a member of the Panoramic Hill Association­, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit over the construction, said the new fence is absurd.

“This is a trip,” he said. “Recently I visited a prison. I can’t imagine how much this double fence is like a prison.”

Kelly said the new fence may violate the court injunction, which prevents construction at the site, because the perimeter is similar to a perimeter that would be used to secure a construction site. But he said the issue was probably not worth pursuing in court.

Dan Mogulof, the campus’s executive director of public affairs, said the placement of the fence has nothing to do with consturction plans and is based on recommendations from UCPD.

“If we get the go-ahead (on

construction) then the perimeter could change,” he said.

Mogulof said the money to build the new fence did not come from funds for research or education. He said he hopes the new fence will encourage tree-sitters to vacate the grove.

“We’re going to be taking this on a step-by-step basis,” he said. “We still hope that common sense will prevail and more protesters will come down

voluntarily.”

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