Native Hawaiians said that the project would desecrate sacred land on the Big Island’s Mauna Kea mountain.
‘Builders pulled back from Mauna Kea as hundreds of protesters set up roadblocks to oppose construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on top of Hawaii’s sacred mountain. State and local police arrested a dozen demonstrators.
Construction vehicles and their police escorts “were stopped repeatedly by more than 300 protesters who set up about two dozen ‘lines of defense’ across the Mauna Kea access road,” reported West Hawaii Today.
Protesters say they are taking a stand to defend Mauna Kea, sacred to native Hawaiians, from the international conglomerate attempting to build the mega-telescope, also known as the TMT. They say the 18-story building represents an unacceptable desecration of the mountain.’
Read More: Hawaii Protesters Block Giant Telescope Construction