Video courtesy ‘Olelo Community Media, file video by David Corrigan

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Kaho’okahi Kanuha, a Ku Kia’i Mauna spokesperson who has been twice arrested on the mountain for blocking Thirty Meter Telescope construction crews, testified at the Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting on Oahu on Friday.

Kanuha opposed new rules restricting access to Mauna Kea between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. and forbidding anyone from possessing items used for camping. Kanuha said the new law is clearly directed at “people like me, people who have been on the mountain for the past 107 days. Not camping; we’re there holding vigil. Ceremony, at least three times a day.”

“It will not stop us,” Kanuha said of the new law. “An unlawful law will not stop us.”