Reporters and others were kept behind police lines and not allowed to observe the police actions because it was a "crime scene," according to sheriff's lieutenant Steve Cobain. Asking what crime had been committed, he told KMUD public radio news director Estelle Fennell it was "trespassing." Later, in a broadcast interview, he elaborated that there was "vandalism on the road."

Although details are unclear at this time, it appears that the raid came today because investigators have just completed collecting forensic evidence at the site of Chain's death, such as photographs and measurements. Pacific Lumber had agreed not to log while the investigation was ongoing. Another spokesperson for the sheriff's office told KMUD didn't mention Pacific Lumber at all, saying only that it was a "private property issue" because unnamed property owners had been complaining since the weekend.

Earth First! organizer Darryl Cherney said that they had received warning that a raid was imminent. By 10AM, more than 80 people had gathered at the police line in sympathy, including members of the clergy and human rights monitors.

Josh Brown of Earth First! was on the scene when police arrived and told KMUD it was a "military-style" operation, with officers tackling the activists and holding them to the ground in arrest positions.

Police used tools to tear down the blockade nearest to highway 36, which had no activists chained together in "lockdown," as described in a previous Monitor report. At a second blockade further up the logging trail, activists were caught unprepared to lockdown to a car, but others mounted tripod barricades, where they sit nearly 40 feet in the air, making it difficult for authorities to reach them. Arrests continued through the day, according to reports from the area.

Arcata Earth First! worker "Olive" said that two young women were chained to logging equipment at the death site as a final blockade. One was heard screaming "pepper spray" shortly after authorities reached the area. According to Earth First! the women still refused to release themselves, and were cut out of their restraints.

Members of Earth First! still vow that they will hold the line at the hilltop where Chain died in order to preserve any criminal evidence, and will prevent Pacific Lumber from resuming logging on Thursday morning.

In related news, sheriff's investigator Detective Juan Freeman told Monitor yesterday that A.E. Ammons, the logger who felled the tree killing Chain, is currently not a suspect in any crime.