Protesters Block Construction Of Thirty Meter Telescope On Hawaiian Volcano

HILO, Hawaii (AP) — Protesters blocked a highway this week as partial of a pull to forestall construction of a hulk telescope nearby a tip of a towering hold dedicated by Native Hawaiians.

More than 50 protesters shaped a roadblock Monday that stopped about 15 vehicles carrying workers adult Mauna Kea on a Big Island, a Hawaii Tribune-Herald journal in Hilo reported ( http://ow.ly/L2He7 ). Some see a $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope plan as desecrating a peak.

The protesters marched behind and onward opposite a highway outward a Mauna Kea caller core as contemporary and normal Hawaiian song played.

Telescope Project Manager Gary Sanders pronounced workers waited for some-more than 8 hours during a roadblock before streamer behind down a mountain.

“Our entrance around a open highway has been blocked by protesters, and we have patiently waited for law coercion to concede a workers a entrance to that they are entitled,” he pronounced in a statement.

Police looked on, though took no movement opposite a demonstrators. Hawaii County military Capt. Richard Sherlock pronounced a department’s concentration was ensuring safety.

“Our position is not opposite a science,” pronounced Lanakila Mangauil, 27, of Honokaa. “It’s not opposite a (telescope) itself. It’s opposite their choice of place.”

Astronomers contend Mauna Kea is a ideal plcae for watching a many apart and formidable to know mysteries of a universe.

The telescope is approaching to emanate 300 full-time construction jobs and 120 to 140 permanent jobs. Opponents contend a jobs don’t clear some-more growth on Mauna Kea.

Protesters pronounced they have confirmed a scarcely round-the-clock participation outward a caller core given final week after construction apparatus arrived.

They also disrupted a groundbreaking rite during a site in October.

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Information from: Hawaii Tribune-Herald, http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/

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