Activists describe three people being arrested this morning at Monument Gate at the entrance to the Rainbow Ridge area as about a dozen protesters tried to stop further logging by the Humboldt Redwood Company by erecting a “mono-pod” to block entrance to the area.

A shaken protester who preferred to be anonymous said that two Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies “violently arrested three people…with hardly any warning….They basically attacked the crowd.”

A Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, Samantha Karges, confirmed that around 3:42 a.m., three protesters were taken into custody “for trespassing, resisting arrest and impeding traffic.”

known as Rook

More deputies eventually showed up. Currently, as of 8:30 a.m., a deputy in a cherry picker is being used to extract a protesterfrom the “mono-pod.”

Karges explained,

Additional protestors have continued to arrive throughout the morning. Resources from the Humboldt County Correctional Facility are on scene, in preparation for possible additional arrests. Humboldt County Public Works has deployed a boom truck to assist in lowering the ladder attached to the gate to safely take the protestor into custody. They are still working to do that at this point. We currently have ten units on scene, which includes one correctional transport deputy.

A livestream shows the arrival of law enforcement and the arrest of the livestreamer, who goes by Mike Gamms on Facebook, at 5 p.m.

The attempt to remove the podsitter was being livestreamed at https://www.instagram.com/blockade.babes/ [Note: Only available on a phone by clicking the circular photo on the left]

An activist who preferred to be referred to only as Bob, described the ongoing scene. He said, “Two sheriff’s [deputies] have some sort of climbing harnesses. Now the sheriff [deputy] is getting into the cherry picker to maybe pull the person out at the top of the ladder. Cherry picker operator is raising it.”

UPDATE 9:02 a.m.: Rook, The protester atop the ladder, has been arrested. Samantha Karges, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s spokesperson, wrote, “I just received word that the protestor on the ladder has also been taken into custody as of 8:52 a.m. I don’t have any identifying information yet.”

UPDATE 9:51 a.m.: According to Bob, one of the protesters we quoted above, most of the activists have departed from Monument Gate, there are people still there though. He told us, “When we left, there were maybe still three sheriff vehicles, two HRC security and four LEAR personnel. But we have all left.”

UPDATE 11:22 a.m.: According to Samantha Karges, “Isabel Xochitl Osheroff, 24, of Berkeley, CA…was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and has since been released on O.R.”

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