MAUNA KEA >> In a confusing flurry of activity Thursday, Gov. David Ige said he was removing state law enforcement personnel from Mauna Kea for the time being, while a top state law enforcement officer warned the protesters blocking the Mauna Kea Access Road that they have until Dec. 26 to clear the road, or face arrest.

Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim announced county police also will withdraw from the Mauna Kea protests by Friday afternoon, but Police Chief Paul Ferreira said his department is aware of the state’s Dec. 26 deadline for the protesters. “If there is going to be action, they’re going to take it, and we’re going to support,” he said.

Lino Kamakau, branch chief of the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resource Management, described the new deadline in a briefing for about 75 protesters at the camp shortly after Ige announced law enforcement officials would leave the site of the long standoff.

Kaho‘okahi Kanhua, one of the leaders of the protest, said Kamakau also said that if the road is not opened by Dec. 26, law enforcement “will come in heavy handed.”

“He did say that all levels of force are on the table, whether it’s chemical disbursements, the pepper spray and the mace, whether it’s the LRAD ( a long range acoustic device), all of those implements and those tools or weapons that they brought as was visible on July 15th, 16th and 17th, it’s been communicated to us that those same weapons will be brought back again, and they are prepared to use them if necessary,” Kanuha said.

Kamakau declined comment after the briefing, referring questions to a spokesman for DLNR who was not immediately available.

State Department of Transportation crews began work Thursday dismantling barricades that were placed along the Daniel K, Inouye Highway last summer to help separate the protest camps from the passing traffic. State crews also removed a temporary traffic light placed on the highway to help the streams of protesters to cross safely back and forth across the highway.

The Mauna Kea Access Road has been closed since July 15, and opponents of the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope established a blockade on the road to prevent TMT equipment from reaching the summit area. The protesters believe construction of TMT on Mauna Kea would be a desecration of a mountain that many Hawaiians consider sacred.

Supporters of the project including Ige say the TMT backers have secured all of the necessary permits from the state and county, and have the right to proceed with construction. But construction of the telescope remains stalled by the protests, which have now lasted more than 22 weeks.

On July 17 police arrested 39 people for obstructing the road, but authorities have made no attempt since then to clear the road to allow work to begin at the TMT site near the summit. Ige has said the state and counties have so far spent $15 million coping with the protests.

Ige’s office wouldn’t comment on the Dec. 26 deadline announced Thursday other than to say that “law enforcement officers on-site continue to talk with the protesters about restoring full public access on Mauna Kea Access Road.”

Just before Kamakau briefed the anti-TMT protesters on the deadline to clear the road, the governor painted a very different picture of his plans for Mauna Kea during an 11 a.m. press conference at the state Capitol.

The governor did not mention the Dec. 26 deadline. Instead, Ige announced that state enforcement officers would withdraw from the mountain because TMT officials said they were not going to proceed with construction at this time.

Ige said, “We have been working with the (TMT International Observatory) being prepared for them beginning construction and when we were informed that they were not going to be proceeding at this time we thought that it would be prudent to remove state personnel and start to de- escalate and return access to Mauna Kea Access Road.”

The Ige administration also distributed a memo in which Ige expressed his “severe disappointment that TMT will not move forward for now, despite months of often intense behind-the-scenes discussions” involving TMT, law enforcement and the protesters.

Gordon Squires, TMT vice president for external relations, released a statement after the governor’s news conference that said in part, “We don’t want to put our workers, the people of Hawaii, and the protesters at risk. Unfortunately, the state and Hawaii County have not demonstrated that they are able to provide safe, sustained access to Maunakea for everyone.”

Squires did not mention a pause in TMT’s plans for Mauna Kea. Squires said in the statement Mauna Kea remains TMT’s preferred site.

“The project and our individual partners are committed to moving forward in a manner that honors and supports our scientific goals, environmental stewardship and the traditions and culture of Hawaii,” it says.

Squires denied any suggestion the project has been put on hold. But he also said he couldn’t say exactly when construction could start. He said the project was poised to start construction in July and August, but gearing up again will depend on a variety of factors, some of them out of TMT’s control.

Squires noted that weather is a concern as winter sets in on the mountain. “Wintertime construction is challenging but possible,” he said.

Even though Mauna Kea remains the preferred site for the next-generation telescope, the project’s alternative site in the Canary Islands remains very much in play. In fact, the TMT last month obtained its final permit, essentially giving the project a green light.

Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, one of the protest leaders, said the kupuna, or elders, at the protest camp would need to meet to discuss the new deadline. But she was skeptical that the protesters would suddenly voluntarily pack up and clear out of the protest site.

Even though Ige announced Thursday morning that TMT is not ready to move forward at the moment, “there is absolutely nothing that tells us that the threat is removed,” Wong- Wilson said.

“We don’t trust government to begin with and this particular governor, so him making an obtuse statement that TMT has announced that they’re not coming for a while just doesn’t hold any water for us,” she said.

Wong-Wilson said Kama­kau told the protesters that law enforcement would visit the protest site each day to ensure progress is being made on removing the tents and equipment that are blocking the Mauna Kea Access Road.

“They are simply telling us the road is now open, you’re in the way, and you have until the 26th of December over the Christmas holiday to remove any blockage of the road, and no options,” she said.

“We asked if there were other options, for example moving to the side of the road, and they were unclear about that,” Wong-Wilson said.

Star-Advertiser reporters Sophie Cocke and Timothy Hurley contributed to this report.