Mere hours after the Bombay High Court on Friday refused to declare Aarey Colony a forest and declined to quash the BMC tree authority's decision allowing felling of over 2,600 trees in the green zone to set up a metro car shed, the authorities had already taken an axe to the trees, environment activists alleged. A video that has gone viral, shows a tree being cut at Aarey.

As soon as the message of tree cutting spread, many people associated with the Save Aarey movement started gathering near the car depot site.