After days of blockading the road to prevent construction machinery from reaching the summit, thirty-one out of about 300 protesters against the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) in the Mauna Kea Conservation District on the Big Island of Hawaii were arrested by the Hawaii Police Department and officers of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Although protesters disrupted the official groundbreaking ceremony in October, these are the first arrests to be made, as the fight against what will be one of the largest telescopes in the world continues in the courts. Native Hawaiian protestors hope to reach the Supreme Court and worry that beginning construction before the courts reach resolution will cause irreparable harm to the environment and to Native Hawaiian ancestral graves and sacred places.
“Things are very emotional as we must witness desecration of our most revered holy place–and burial ground of our most sacred ancestors. But [things are] peaceful and all are staying in the Kapu Aloha –moving in Aloha with steadfast determination,” Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou preservationist group told NBC News
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