'Occupy Honolulu' to march as security tightens

The killing of a Hawaii man by a US State Department security agent has galvanized anti-globalization activists who said Thursday they plan to march on a weekend summit of Asia-Pacific leaders.

But activists and security officials said large 'occupy' protests like those that started on Wall Street and went global looked unlikely due to a clampdown and the remoteness of the summit location in Honolulu.

President Barack Obama arrives late Friday for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which brings together leaders of its 21 members including Obama's Chinese and Russian counterparts, and corporate chieftains.

Local activists

With its sun-kissed beaches and laid-back spirit, Honolulu is not known for protests but local activists are preparing to march in solidarity with other demonstrators around the world when the summit kicks into top gear Saturday.

"Free-trade policies are not benefiting 99 percent of the people here or anywhere in the world, and they shouldn't be pushed forward here by corporate leaders," said Megan Brooker, an organizer with Occupy Honolulu.

Brooker expects at least several dozen participants.

Obama chose his birthplace for the summit, prompting local grumbling over the tightest security seen in the state since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor nearly 70 years ago.

The questions grew after a local man was shot and killed by a State Department agent tasked with APEC security.

Christopher Deedy, 27, was charged with murder for the shooting of Kollin Elderts, 23, in an altercation early last Saturday. Reports have indicated that both Deedy and the victim were inebriated.

Busiest beachfronts

Local opposition to APEC "is due to many factors: the security, oppression, the homeless, but certainly now also the shooting," said Liz Rees, an organizer for activist group World Can't Wait, which staged a march by dozens of people Tuesday calling for justice in the case.

"There definitely is some kind of cover-up going on," she said.

Honolulu Police declined comment to AFP beyond the basic facts of the case.

APEC road closures have brought an unusual calm to normally bustling areas of famed Waikiki Beach and security was set to spike Friday as government leaders trickled in to join an estimated 20,000 other delegates and media.

Authorities plan to shut down a roughly one-kilometre stretch of Waikiki and its offshore waters - normally one of the busiest beachfronts in the world - for 24 hours from Friday night.

That area includes one of Chad Uehara's favorite surfbreaks. He had been planning to surf through the weekend as his delivery company had put him on half-schedule due to anticipated problems reaching its customers.

Spiritual movement

"Yeah that's a real drag. That's the first time I've ever heard that happening. I guess I'll chill out instead," said Uehara, 25.

The management of Iolani Palace, home of Hawaii's past kings and queens and the only royal palace on US soil, also has publicly complained about being ordered to shut during APEC for security reasons.

Several native Hawaiian sovereignty activists were arrested earlier in the week after protesting the closure and a group of Falungong adherents demonstrated Wednesday against Chinese suppression of the spiritual movement.

Efforts to oust the homeless from public spaces also have drawn fire.

But large-scale disruptions looked unlikely, said Special Agent Tom Simon of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Honolulu field office.

"It's an expensive prospect to get to Hawaii from anywhere else in the world so we are not expecting the giant throngs of protesters we have seen at other major international trade meetings," he said.

Brooker said local activists hoped supporters from outside Hawaii would come nevertheless.

"But there was never an expectation of it, especially with the way the economy has been. They specifically chose Hawaii for this meeting because it is isolated and so there would be no protests," she said. AFP