Folk singer Baez in tree protest

Baez sang We Shall Overcome from the branches of the Walnut tree

Folk singer Joan Baez, 65, has joined a tree-top protest over the planned demolition of a community garden in south Los Angeles.

The singer, who led anti-war protests in the 1960s, sang We Shall Overcome to reporters gathered around the tree.

The threatened garden is tended by some 350 farmers, who have been growing crops there since 1992.

The landowner wants to reclaim the land for development after the community failed to raise money to buy the site.

Supporters of the garden had until Monday to raise $16m (£8.5m) to purchase the 14-acre (5.6 hectare) plot.

"We've come up with $6 million (£3.2m), which is unbelievable," said actress Daryl Hannah, another celebrity campaigner for the project.

"If everyone in the city just gave one dollar, this place could be saved."

Actress Laura Dern and musician Ben Harper have also joined the campaign.

Baez is sharing the tree with Julia "Butterfly" Hill, a campaigner who spent 1997 to 1999 in a giant Redwood in northern California to save it from loggers.