Daryl Hannah was arrested along with 16 other protestors in Los Angeles's South Central Urban Garden on Tuesday and tells PEOPLE by phone from her jail cell, "I'm not thrilled about it, but I felt it was important to sustain my commitment."


The actress and about 25 immigrant farmers and their supporters were campaigning to save the 14-acre fruit and vegetable garden from planned demolition.


Hannah says:

"I spent the last 23 days down at the South Central farm, which is the largest urban farm in the nation and provides food for hundreds of families. The subsistence farmers are from one of the poorest communities. This farm should be a model for sustainable urban agriculture. It needs to be replicated, not eradicated."

For the past three weeks, Hannah and protest organizer John Quigley had been sitting 40 feet above the ground in a large walnut tree. Folk singer, Joan Baez and anti-logging activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill had also taken shifts in the tree, although neither was present when the arrests were made. Leonardo DiCaprio and Willie Nelson had also stopped by the garden in the past weeks to show their support.