Jewish SF Chronicle chuckles at IDF attack on Tristan Anderson: "Treesitter not in Berkeley anymore"

[scooby]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 16HBT3.DTL

Tree sitter is not in Berkeley any more

Debra J. Saunders

When Tristan Anderson, now 38, was living illegally in the trees at UC Berkeley to protest the administration's ultimately successful bid to cut down the trees to build a sports training center, life was good. For 21 months, Berkeley's tree sitters happily fouled their nests with little interference from the authorities. Their biggest fear was falling.

When Berkeley finally erected barbed-wire fences and began to shine spotlights on the canopy campers, the tree huggers complained that UC had turned their grove into "Guantanamo." UC retaliated by giving the tree sitters energy bars.

In June 2008, Anderson, who went by the name "Cricket," was arrested, charged with trespassing and violating a court order - and still he was able to chat happily with reporters.

Segue to the West Bank last week. Anderson had joined pro-Palestinian protesters in the village of Naalin, where he was seriously wounded when an Israeli-fired tear-gas canister hit him on the head.

Fellow activists said the attack was unprovoked. The Israeli Defense Forces said they were reacting to rock-throwing demonstrators. Whatever happened, Anderson found out in the worst way that political protest outside the Bay Area isn't all energy bars and catch-and-release.

Back in the Bay Area, Anderson's fellow peace activists could have used the awful occasion of Anderson's situation to contemplate how wonderful it is to live in a safe country. Instead, Monday night, they held their usual menacing and violence-tinged protest that closed down a swath of Market Street and exposed Ess Eff once again as a consequence-free environment.

According to SFPD, five protesters were booked on charges including felony aggravated assault, battery on a police officer and tampering with a vehicle.

They went beyond their very American right to freely express their political views - and illegally blocked off a portion of a main city street and kept other people from going about their business.

Their purpose clearly was not to express ideas, but to interfere with the lives of other people, particularly people with real jobs and places to go. And for some - those who showed up with masks because they planned on breaking the law - the point was to disrupt and intimidate citizens.What happens to protesters who assault a cop?

Russ Giuntini, chief assistant district attorney for San Francisco, told me, "When we first got here, the old philosophy was, cops are supposed to take a punch." Now with a good case, he said, his office will prosecute.

Police Officers Association President Gary Delagnes, however, wonders if there will be consequences. "There are no repercussions in San Francisco," he told me.

Organizers said the Monday event was designed to honor Anderson's work fighting for human rights. "We're outraged to see what happened to Tristan as an American happens day in and day out to folks in Palestine," David Solnit, Anderson's friend, told KTVU.

So because Cricket's friends are outraged, they vandalize cars and block traffic. They have to know that their actions are not going to change the situation in the Mideast. What they are affecting is police overtime costs. Deputy Chief Kevin Cashman estimated that evening's action cost $27,804.27 in regular-duty and overtime payroll costs. Cashman noted, "This is blood money. Officers often have to go into harm's way and are on the receiving end of objects being thrown at them."

Cashman was adamant in noting SFPD's duty "to protect everyone's First Amendment rights." He noted that 90 to 95 percent of protesters are simply exercising their right to free speech. Many even often tell police that they support law enforcement and not the violent anarchists.

The problem is, however, when an officer's skull is fractured - as happened to SFPD's Peter Shields during an anti-World Trade Organization protest in 2005 - there are no angry marches closing down Market Street.

To comment, e-mail Debra J. Saunders at mailto:dsaunders@sfchronicle.com">dsaunders@sfchronicle.com.