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Devin Smith and Ken-Dru Van Jones are some of the protestors trying to save the Oak Grove trees...

BERKELEY — University officials say people living and sleeping in the wide street median outside the UC Berkeley tree-sit are creating a messy, dangerous and noisy situation with their tents, litter and drumming circles.

But the people in the tents — who act as ground support for a handful of people still living in a university oak grove — say their small encampment is there to protect the grove, help those still perched in the trees and keep a watchful eye on university police, who they've sparred with in the past.

"It's dangerous. We are getting complaints from people who work in that area (on Piedmont Avenue)," said University of California, Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof. "It's become People's Park Two."

About a dozen people have erected two or three small tents in the past few weeks in the median along Piedmont Avenue near Gayley Road where they are sleeping at night and eating, making art, drumming and monitoring the police 24 hours a day, seven day a week, ground supporter Gabby Silverman, 25, said Monday.

"There's been no injuries because of our occupation of the median," said Silverman, a former tree sitter. "We are careful and we are respectful of the (neighbors) and the large forces in the world, such as the trucks and cars and buses."

Three people remain living in a single redwood in the grove. The university is allowing one bag of food and water to go up daily. Ground supporters are out there