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Subject: Ohana to protest
Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 13:12:28 EDT

Subj: Ohana to protest
Date: 5/8/01 7:51:21 AM Pacific Daylight Time
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Officials Gear Up for Bank Protest

By RON STATON
.c The Associated Press
5/08/2001

HONOLULU (AP) - Asian Development Bank delegates gather Wednesday in this
city known for its friendliness - but officials worry that demonstrators who
disrupted previous world economic meetings now may head for Honolulu's
streets and the towering glass walls of the Hawaii Convention Center.

Also seeking a voice - while promising to maintain their traditions - are
native Hawaiian groups hoping to show delegates their
culture and to air the simmering concerns of Hawaii's indigenous people.

Concerns about outside protesters have had police and government officials
preparing for months, and officers have $500,000 worth of new riot gear in
case demonstrations turn violent. Police say protesters with ``wrist-rocket''
slingshots could easily break the 587 half-inch-thick glass panes at the
convention center's entrance.

``When you are in the profession of law enforcement and security, you
construct a building to be secure, and you wouldn't use this kind of
design,'' said Hawaii Deputy Public Safety Director Sidney Hayakawa, who is
overseeing the state's security for the event, ``This building was
constructed with openness and Hawaiiana in mind.''

The Philippines-based Asian Development Bank, with 59 member nations and
3,500 delegates, is an international lending agency dedicated to reducing
poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.

Its meeting from Wednesday through Friday originally had been planned for
Seattle. But the United States moved it to Hawaii after the World Trade
Organization's December 1999 meeting in Seattle was interrupted by 50,000
protesters who smashed windows and vandalized cars. Protesters opposed the
WTO on issues ranging from human rights to environmental protection to labor
conditions.

Those protesters, like those who disrupted the Summit of the Americas meeting
last month in Quebec City, view multinational economic institutions such as
the ADB as harmful to the people in poor countries.

For the native Hawaiian groups, key issues include sovereignty, land rights
and federal recognition of some form of Hawaiian self-rule, with talk of
independence at the extreme. Their concerns date to the 1893 overthrow of the
Hawaiian kingdom, for which the U.S. government apologized in 1993.

Native Hawaiians only rarely have resorted disruptive tactics to push their
causes. American Indian Movement Hawaiian activist Dennis ``Bumpy'' Kanahele
said outside protesters have tried to recruit native Hawaiians - ``but they
want us to support their issues; we want to get our own message across,'' he
said.

Kanahele and several native Hawaiians are appearing in television ads urging
calm.

``We want to make sure we welcome the protesters, and our concern is
to make it peaceful.,'' Kanahele said.

Ka Lahui Hawaii, a major Hawaiian sovereignty organization, said some of its
members will join the protest.

``ADB needs to review its policies and have direct contact with native people
about social and economic development,'' said spokesman Kealii Gora.

Law enforcement authorities aren't sure what kind of turnout to expect.
Estimates have ranged from 2,000 to 5,000 protesters.

Merchants near the convention center, located at one of Honolulu's busiest
intersections, say police have warned them of possible road closures and
disruptions.

AP-NY-05-08-01 0236EDT

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