Some 150 Hawaii National Guard soldiers underwent civil disturbance training over the weekend amid speculation state troops may be called into action in the ongoing struggle over the Thirty Meter Telescope.
In addition, most of the 1,800 Guard troops designated for civil disobedience duty will undergo similar four-hour training sessions in the next two months, a Hawaii National Guard spokesman said Tuesday.
"I wouldn’t read too much into it," said Lt. Col. Charles Anthony, who handles public affairs for the guard. He said the training is an annual requirement for units assigned to that role. "This is one of our missions."
Brig. Gen. Arthur Logan, commander of the Hawaii National Guard, met with Gov. David Ige on Friday, and the TMT situation might have been one of the topics of discussion, he said.
However, Anthony said the governor made no formal request for troops, nor did he ask for any planning in connection with the TMT conflict.
"There are currently no explicit plans to activate the National Guard," Jodi Leong, the governor’s spokeswoman, confirmed in an email Tuesday.
But after previously saying he wasn’t considering the use of troops in defense of TMT’s right to build its $1.4 billion telescope atop Mauna Kea, Ige changed his tune this week.
It came as protesters vowed to continue their protest on the mountain after the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday approved an emergency rule banning nonvehicular traffic in the summit region from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., plus camping gear at any time.
"This rule, it will not stop us. That is the truth," protest leader Kahookahi Kanuha told the board.
On Facebook late Friday night, Oahu protest leader Andre Perez urged his followers to commit to and be prepared to get arrested.
"Stand by e ka lahui (the nation), mass coordinated civil disobedience! No retreat, no surrender! Hawaiian nationals, mount up! This is our time! We will make history for our keiki, mo‘opuna and future generations, til the very last aloha aina!" he wrote.
Perez and Kanuha were two of 12 arrested June 24 when protesters turned back a TMT convoy heading up the mountain to restart construction on what is billed as the largest and most powerful telescope in the world. The road was closed after protesters spread rocks and boulders on the road.
On Monday Ige told reporters that calling in the National Guard was a indeed an option "if need be," and he added, "We are preparing plans for whatever might end up occurring."
On Tuesday the governor issued this statement along with the announcement he had formally signed the emergency rule into law: "My administration believes firmly in the right of free expression. At the same time we cannot let some people put others at risk of harm or property damage."
In response, the Mauna Kea Hui said the group was "shocked and saddened" by Ige’s suggestion that state troops might enter the fray.
"It could escalate rather than de-escalate the conflict," Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, said in a statement.
Pisciotta said Ige appears to be working for TMT.
"All the governor has at this point is a shovel and a gun. It seems he has thrown out all reason and abandoned his previous support of our constitutional right to peacefully protest against the further desecration of our sacred mountain by TMT’s construction crews," she said.
Earlier, Kanuha warned that bringing the National Guard to the conflict would be unwarranted and create an even greater public safety threat.
National Guard troops receiving training for civil disturbance are taught such things as apprehension, search and detention, civil disturbance formations and "nonlethal capabilities sets," including techniques for restoring order without using lethal force, Anthony said.
A National Guard publication also describes training in riot shield and riot baton techniques.
