On Monday morning, UCPD removed crops planted by Occupy the Farm demonstrators on a portion of campus-owned land in Albany.

Last week, UCPD officers also dug up crops planted by the demonstrators on a parcel of land historically known as the Gill Tract, which the university intends to develop. Development plans include a senior housing facility, a parking lot and a Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store. Protesters returned to farm on Saturday despite last week’s forced removal, which resulted in four arrests.

According to Occupy the Farm spokesperson Matthew McHale, the protest aims to make the land a community farm. The land previously held World War II barracks, and protesters hope to show it is still a usable natural resource.

“The fact that the UC needs to plow over the crops speaks to the power of our vision,”  McHale said. “If members were to see what an amazing agricultural resource this land could be, there would be a huge amount of push-back and resistance (against development).”

Protesters arrived at the mixed-use project Saturday morning, farming during the day and staying through the night until Sunday. Throughout the weekend, UCPD monitored the protest and alerted the demonstrators that they were trespassing, but officers made no arrests. By Monday morning, the protesters had left, and UCPD removed the plants.

Claire Holmes, associate vice chancellor for communications and public affairs for UC Berkeley, said it is important that the process of resolving the demonstration is legal and democratic, making sure all plans for the land are considered equally.

“There are some people in Albany who want a miniature golf course on the site, but those people aren’t down there establishing the golf site,” Holmes said. “(For the protesters to) unilaterally take over that spot over interests of other groups in the community — that is inappropriate.”

Occupy the Farm member Lesley Haddock, however, said that community farm advocates have been going to city meetings for the past 15 years. According to Haddock, the problem does not lie with Albany but with the university, which has had poor dialogue with the public on the issue.

“We’ve held over 10 public forums over the last year and invited the UC every single time, and they’ve never shown up,” Haddock said.

But it may be too late for dialogue between the protesters and the UC Berkeley administration. Both Holmes and Nicole Almaguer, Albany city clerk, said that the campus and city have come to an agreement and that the development plan will continue.

“The protesters have every right to have a voice at the table,” Holmes said. “However, a majority has already decided how they would like to see the land used.”

Contact Mary Zhou at newsdesk@dailycal.org.

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