HONOLULU — Police on the Big Island arrested 12 people Thursday who were trying to block workers from getting to a telescope construction site on a mountain considered sacred to Native Hawaiians.
Hawaii County police say in a statement that a dozen people were taken into custody in the protest on the road to the Mauna Kea summit. Police say protesters were warned after a similar incident Monday that anyone blocking the road would be arrested.
Construction is underway on the Thirty Meter Telescope, which will be one of the biggest in the world. Native Hawaiians don’t oppose the telescope, only the location on the island’s tallest peak.
Construction workers eventually got to the top, and work continued later Thursday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
Protesters opposing the construction of one of the world’s largest telescopes on Hawaii’s Big Island on Thursday temporarily blocked the road leading to the top of the mountain, leading to a number of arrests.
Hawaii County police spokeswoman Chris Loos said Thursday that some people were arrested in the protest on the road to the Mauna Kea summit, but he didn’t provide a specific number. Kealoha Pisciotta, a telescope opponent, said 15 of the 300 or so taking part were taken into custody.
“We regret that police action had to be taken to enable our legal access to the project site,” Thirty Meter Telescope project manager Gary Sanders said in a statement.
Work got underway after protesters were arrested and their path was cleared to the summit, Sandra Dawson, a spokeswoman for the project, said in an email to The Associated Press.
Scientists hope to use the telescope to see 13 billion light years away, giving them a look into the early years of the universe. The mountaintop, which Native Hawaiians consider sacred, is an ideal location for observing the most distant parts of the universe, astronomers said.
Opponents who question whether land appraisals were done correctly and whether Native Hawaiian groups had been consulted have tried to prevent the construction of the $1.4 billion telescope.
The 15 people arrested Thursday were trying to block trucks heading to the peak, Pisciotta said. After the vehicles were allowed to pass, about 40 to 50 people began following the trucks, which moved slowly because of their heavy loads, she said.
About 300 protesters, whom she called “protectors,” were on the mountain, Piscottia said. She was not on the mountain but was in contact with the protesters.
Protests also disrupted a groundbreaking and Hawaiian blessing ceremony last year, but no one was arrested. In fact, some protesters who yelled during the ceremony attempt later apologized to event organizers and helped put away chairs, Pisciotta said.
“We said aloha to each other and we hugged,” she said.
Native Hawaiian leaders have been meeting and talking about the issue with state officials, police and prosecutors, Pisciotta said. “We have told them that this is desecration, and there are laws against desecration,” she said.
Sanders said he and others at the telescope project respect the rights of everyone to express their viewpoints, but they also respect the seven-year process the state underwent to issue building permits.
“Like most people in the community, we truly believe that science and culture can coexist” on the mountain, he said, “as it has for the past 50-years along with other public uses.”
The observatory is expected to be operational by 2024, the same year a 39-meter telescope is expected to be completed in Chile.