Protests at Mauna Kea blind world-leading telescopes

Thirteen telescopes on Hawaii’s tallest mountain have been shut down over staff safety concerns amid island-wide protests over further construction on the peak, which natives hold sacred.

On 16 July, the directors of all the observatories based on Mauna Kea jointly decided to evacuate staff tasked with manning the mountaintop telescopes. The decision was taken due to worries about the safety of staff, police and protesters, Jessica Dempsey, deputy director of the East Asian Observatory, said in a statement.

Thirty-four people had been arrested as of 20 July for actions carried out while protesting against the construction of another observatory—the Thirty Meter Telescope—on the mountain, according to the Associated Press news agency. It said that between 800 and 1,200 protesters had assembled on the mountain on 19 July. The access road to the summit observatories remained blocked by protestors on 23 July.