It’s unfortunate that the videographer below lets his focus drift while he shouts obscenity-laden abuse at the CHP, but the resulting video is pretty graphic in spots, anyway. It seems that the treesit extractors fired some sort of projectiles at their quarry — rubber bullets, says “Emerald Triangle News,” but perhaps we should take that as provisional.

UPDATE, 6:05 p.m: Caltrans sends in the following response:

Caltrans #1 goal is to ensure the safety of everyone in the Willits Bypass construction area. These protestors sitting in trees were formally notified more than a week ago that they were trespassing and given ample time to voluntarily leave without arrest. We have worked around them, safely removing as many trees as we could, but at this time these protestors needed to be removed so we can safely continue with our work.

This project was developed with public input and following all State and Federal laws. We stand behind this project which will improve interregional traffic, improve air quality, and improve fisheries and the local environment of the Little Lake Valley.

UPDATE 4/3, 3 p.m.: Well it looks like that first video was removed by its user. But the same scene documented in the lost clip plays out at about four minutes into the video below (and, actually, this newer vid is better since it chronicles more of the buildup.) -AG