Residents protest failed injunction against COVID restrictions

Several dozen residents gathered in front of the Hilo courthouse Monday to protest a failed injunction against COVID-19 restrictions.

Native Hawaiian activist Gene Tamashiro filed a petition in August in Third Circuit Court calling for an end to all vaccination and mask mandates in the state. On Monday, Judge Henry Nakamoto dismissed the petition with prejudice, arguing that the petition had no merit.

In response, Tamashiro and several dozen people staged a peaceful protest outside the courthouse, claiming that the court had perpetrated a miscarriage of justice.

The group was asked by police to move and later continued their protest at the intersection of Kilauea Avenue and Aupuni Street.

“None of the defendants showed up, just their attorneys,” Tamashiro said.

Defendants included Gov. David Ige, Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Attorney General Clare Connors and all four county mayors.

“They had no evidence against our 100 pages of scientific facts,” Tamashiro claimed.

Protester Millicent Cummings said Nakamoto’s decision equated to a “total betrayal of the U.S. Constitution” and that he was guilty of treason.

“We are reminding him of his oath and that what is repugnant to the Constitution is repugnant to us,” Cummings said.

Other protesters called the widespread rollout of COVID-19 vaccines an act of genocide, claimed the virus has never been successfully isolated, and said the pandemic does not exist — all contrary to evidence by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U. N. World Health Organization.

Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.