To whom it may concern,
For the deadline of today (December 26th 2019) that Governor Ige has given for the protesters to clear the road, or risk being arrested.I wanted to make it very clear, that the people that I know (who are many) that want the road cleared, have almost all voiced their concern that the road opening remain peaceful.The protesters have raised concerns that during the road clearing that the protesters have been threatened with “heavy handed tactics”. They have released multiple videos and social media posts with this concern.
I wanted to let the Hawaii county government know that the reason that this protest grew so much, and the reason why there are so many emotions stirred up is because the county mishandled this from the beginning, by not arresting every single protester up there on July 17th. Rather than just a handful of people.
So do not put all of the blame on the protesters for the County’s mistakes. By all means, we support you arresting everyone who is not clearing the road. Because their blockade violates the rights of hundreds of thousands of tax paying residents in Hawaii as well as tourists and the TMT project. However, please keep it as peaceful as possible. Any un-necessary use of force will be met with resistance from many citizens of Hawaii County, who are not on the side of the protesters.
We trust that this process will remain peaceful In fact, many of us are pretty sure that the county is not even serious about clearing the road today. The county appears to be completely inept at handling this kind of thing.However, if the road is cleared today, we expect a peaceful and favorable outcome for all Hawaii residents.
I made this video on Youtube today, to express my concerns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP26GJ8OWk4
https://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2019/12/19/gov-ige-tmt-protesters-have-until-dec-26-to-leave.html
Governor Ige’s Press Conference on December 19th 2019
