NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The remaining protester who spent more than ten days living in a tree in City Park was taken to the hospital Tuesday after falling. The man reportedly injured his leg. According to one park worker, Orleans Parish deputies are with the man and will arrest him to face a trespassing charge once he’s discharged.
The tree protest began with two people, a man and woman, who climbed into the tree that is located inside the construction area of the park’s new professional golf course. The pair represented a larger crowd of people who want the area to remain a wild habitat.
After five days, the park gave the two a deadline to come down or face charges. The woman climbed down before the deadline; the man did not.
Members of City Park’s board and park workers say the new course will provide a much-needed source of revenue for the park. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the park had four golf courses. Once the new one is finished, it will now have two.
Opponents of the project have made regular appearances at recent park board meetings. The woman who met the park’s deadline to come down from the tree attended — and addressed the board — at the most recent meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
Park workers say the protest also required additional money to station a rotation of sheriff’s deputies at the tree. But he said no decision had been made yet on whether to pursue legal action to pass along the costs to the last protester to leave.
