Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Chanting marchers with banners protested police brutality last night along Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki -- with pounding drums and occasional guitars and ukuleles adding to the cacophony. Waikiki protest aims
at ‘police brutality’Refuse and Resist leads
25-40 marchers against the
'criminalization of a generation'By Harold Morse
Star-BulletinStreet musicians and a few boisterous passersby cheered the marchers, but most observers looked on with mild curiosity.
The announced organizer of the march was a group called Refuse and Resist.
The march was led by a young woman with a bullhorn. It started at the makai end of the zoo parking lot and crossed Kalakaua, proceeded Ewa to Seaside Avenue on the makai sidewalk, then crossed Kalakaua again to turn Diamond Head on the makai sidewalk. It ended back at the zoo parking lot.
About 25 participants began the march shortly after 8 p.m. The group numbered about 40 eventually.
"Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Police brutality's got to go!" was one chant. "Danger! Danger! One two three! Stop police brutality," was another. "Killer cops, you can't hide! We're risin' up nationwide," was still another.
A few police officers watched, showing no significant reaction. Some smiled. The Waikiki Police Substation was an object of marchers' attention for about 10 minutes as they chanted outside. A couple of officers stood near the entrance, quietly watching.
Some marchers wore bandannas as masks or other masks. Some handed out fliers calling for citizens to "Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation."