The Board of Land and Natural Resources will consider the rule at a meeting Friday. Protestors said such an act would not stop them to keep a constant check on the mountain.
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Some protest leaders have denied wrongdoing on the parts of the protestors, and some spokespeople insist that anything bad that is happening is due to a very small minority of protestors on Mauna Kea. Protesters have been staying on the mountain to block construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Native Hawaiians have been up in arms over the construction of TMT, a $1.4 billion project that has been a bone of contention or months.
The University of Hawaii has released logs kept by Mauna Kea rangers and employees at the visitors center. Others, though, went with more physical protests, putting boulders in the road to impede work. “Everything has been pono,” he said using the Hawaiian word that can mean righteous or proper. More than 40 protesters were arrested during the two days that crews unsuccessfully attempted to restart construction.
On April 21, the woman who yelled “kill the haoles, kill the tourists”, according to the logs, calmed down when visitor center staff asked four other protesters for help: “They offered aid willingly and apologized for the woman’s behavior and language”. Some believe that the rule steps on Native Hawaiians’ rights to coming to the mountain for religious purposes, which could spark future discussions. Protesters camped out on Mauna Kea – a violation of state rules – around the clock, and even with the 120-day rule in place and accusations of bad behavior being thrown around, they have maintained that they aren’t giving up the fight.
More than 100 people signed up to testify for three minutes each on the proposed rules.
Protest leader Kahookahi Kanuha, center left, testifies before a Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting in Honolulu on Friday, July 10, 2015, against a state proposal to limit the ability of protesters to access Mauna Kea.
The board could approve the proposal, reject it or adopt an amended version.
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Attorney General Douglas Chin testified during Friday’s BLNR meeting that he personally saw the tent erected during his visit to the mountain.
