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It was a fruitful protest.
Two people were arrested Saturday morning as protesters successfully stalled the city’s efforts to chop down cherry trees at Corlears Hook Park near the Williamsburg Bridge.
William Talen, 71, and Francis Pondolfino, 64, were charged with criminal trespass and obstructing governmental administration after refusing commands to leave a fenced-in area at 6:55 a.m., cops said.
The two had wrapped their arms around a cherry tree impeding city contractors, who called 911.
Nearby, several women sat on the ground for hours, blocking trucks that eventually turned around, without chopping down the cherry trees. Other protesters nearby chanted.
“They don’t have to kill the cherry trees. This is Cherry Street. What, is this now Street Street, without the cherry trees?” said Alison Colby, 62, an East Village resident and production editor.
The tree-cutting is part of the city’s $1.4 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency project, which will raise the park so it, and the neighborhood, is more resistant to flooding. The city plans to cut down 1,000 trees for the project, which the state’s top court temporarily barred in December.
Yadira Guevara-Prip, 26, a “Star Trek: Discovery” actress, joined the protest.
“The trees here are here to protect us,” the actress said. “There’s a much higher rate downtown of asthma. Taking away these trees is essentially making it worse.”
Workers did partially cut down two 70-plus-year-old London plane trees in the park.
“This land was stolen from indigenous peoples to begin with and I’m here now and I’m responsible to protect the land,” said Lower East Side resident Sarah Wellington. “The East Side Coastal Resiliency Plan is dangerous. It is designed to fail.”
It is unknown when contractors will attempt to cut down the trees again, but the protesters — who call themselves “land protectors” — promised to return to the park every day.
The Parks Department didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
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