Daryl Hannah has been forced to stop communing with nature.
The Splash star was one of more than 40 people arrested at an urban farm in Los Angeles Tuesday after police forcibly removed protesters from the area in a scene that was broadcast live on several L.A. TV stations.
Hannah and protest organizer John Quigley were pulled from a walnut tree by police who cut away branches and used a giant fire ladder to reach the tree sitters after they vowed not to abandon their post.
The farm has been the site of ongoing protests for several weeks after Ralph Horowitz, the owner of the 14-acre property, got an eviction notice so he could move foward with plans to sell the land to be developed, meaning that the 350 or so farmers who have grown produce and flowers on the site for more than a decade would be forced to abandon their garden plots.
The farmers, primarily Latino immigrants, were joined by a number of stars, including Hannah, Danny Glover, Joan Baez and Willie Nelson, in their fight to keep the land.
Horowitz had offered to sell 10 acres of the property to a non-profit group for $16.3 million so the farm could be continued, but when the group came up short, he secured an eviction order from a judge.
Over the past few weeks, Hannah has been living on the property in a tent in an effort to draw attention to the farmers' plight. On Tuesday, she said she had been sleeping in her tent when the police raid began around 5 a.m. and that she quickly made for the branches of a tree.
"I felt an extreme sense of urgency. Not only did I have to climb up the tree, I had to pull up the rope behind me so they could not follow me," the actress told the Los Angeles Times by cell phone from her tree perch.
Hannah was just one of a number of protesters who did their best to block police from removing them from the premises. Others chained themselves to cement-filled barrels and to the trunk of the walnut tree.
However, by noon, police and firefighters had succeeded in clearing the farm of protesters. About 17 people were arrested inside the gates of the farm, while an additional 25 or 30 were arrested as they demonstrated outside.
Horowitz said that he was angered by the behavior of the farmers and protesters and that he was no longer willing to sell them the land at any price.
"I'm not real happy with this group," he told L.A. affiliate NBC4. "Even if they raised $100 million this group could not buy this property. It's not about money. I don't like their cause. I don't like their conduct. So, there's no price that I would sell it to them for.
He also said that the majority of the farmers had been relocated to other gardening sites around the city, a statement echoed by City Councilwoman Jan Perry.
At a news conference at City Hall Tuesday afternoon, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he was upset with the end result of the raid on the farm.
"Today's events were disheartening and unnecessary," he said. "After years of disagreement over this property, we had all hoped for a better outcome."