HONOLULU- I
s it a preview of what's to come or just deliberate preparation? Khon2 has learned several city vans and buses have been converted into paddy wagons ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in
Honolulu in early November.
“We don't anticipate a huge amount of arrests but we've got to be ready,” said Honolulu Police spokesperson Caroline Sluyter.
The vehicles in question were set to be scrapped by Oahu Transit Services but instead were donated to HPD.
The police department would not say how many buses and vans had been donated by OTS and denied a Khon2 request to inspect the vehicles. However a Khon2 camera spotted at least five of the converted Handi-Vans at the Pearl City Bus Yard on Waimano Home Road. A source within OTS says at least ten city buses were also converted, and some of them were fitted with metal cages just past the main door.
A local resident planning to demonstrate during the APEC summit says the paddy wagons are yet another sign that police are promulgating an atmosphere that’s not conducive to peaceful protests.
“I think it's a climate of fear,” said Carolyn Hadfield, a member of The World Can’t Wait-Hawaii, a group planning protests during APEC Leaders Week from November 8 - 13.
“It seems like they're gearing up as though its war. It shows once again that their response is totally disproportionate to what protestors are actually planning.”
With twenty foreign dignitaries as well as President Barack Obama arriving on Oahu for the APEC Leaders’ Meeting on November 12 and 13, Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz says it’s only prudent for law enforcement to be fully prepared.
“Of course we’ve got to keep people safe,” said Schatz, “but I think we can certainly keep people safe and allow people to have their free speech rights.
PAST PROTESTS
During past APEC summits protests have resulted in violent clashes with police. In 2005 about 300 demonstrators threw rocks and fought with police outside of the host city of Busan in South Korea. Police fought back with water cannons and batons.
Tim Johns, executive vice chair of the APEC 2011 Hawaii Host Committee, maintains nothing will prevent protestors from peacefully expressing their views.
“As citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Hawaii, we value the diversity of our people and opinions,” Johns said in a statement. “The Hawaii Host Committee believes that individuals should have an opportunity to share their views and nothing we do will prevent them from doing so during APEC Leaders’ Week.”
SECURITY PLANS AND ACLU
However the APEC host committee has yet to announce security plans for the summit, which is expected to include details such as road closures and where protestors can gather.
The Hawaii chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has been training so-called ‘protest observers’ to keep an eye on police and other security forces during the summit.
“It’s for neutral people to go out and just take note of what's happening between law enforcement and demonstrators,” said Dan Gluck, a staff attorney with ACLU-Hawaii.
The ACLU has also been meeting with groups who are planning protests during APEC to educate them about what constitutes a ‘peaceful’ demonstration.
“We do encourage anyone who's thinking about having any kind of demonstration to contact us,” said Gluck. “We really hope that APEC will be a totally peaceful experience and that anybody who wishes to demonstrate peacefully can have their voices heard.”
However Hadfield is concerned protestors, no matter how peaceful, will be corralled into areas that are miles away from APEC events, especially those featuring heads of state, for instance the reception dinner being hosted by President Obama at the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki November 12.
“You should be able to be close enough to have your voices heard,” said Hadfield. “It’s a constitutional right.”
The World Can’t Wait remains in opposition to APEC primarily because of the organization’s push toward free trade and deregulation, which Hadfield says creates hardship for smaller, less affluent countries in the Pacific Rim.
“What APEC was designed for was to pry open the economies of poorer countries to enable larger countries to get in with their products.”
To date the City and County of Honolulu has set aside $44 million for APEC planning, with nearly half of that or perhaps more earmarked for a contingency security fund. When state funds are included government spending for APEC could top $120 million.
“That money could be used for actual infrastructure needs and the kind of social help in Hawaii that are so desperately needed,” said Hadfield. “I think it's just really criminal what's happening.”
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