did any of you hear the rumor on the big fight in waikiki on halloween night? did any of you hear that people couldn’t move and the police shot pepper spay into the crowd? well, that is not a rumor. that was reality and i was standing right in the middle of it.
i took this photo as we were walking down kalakaua avenue. i was walking toward diamond with my friends Bobby, David, Hoku, and others. it was super crowded. we were approaching where the old international marketplace use to be. they are doing construction so they blocked off half of the sidewalk. the other side of the sidewalk was gated by the police so people wouldn’t walk into the streets. well, that was a very bad situation. as we approached the narrow sidewalk where thousands of people were trying to walk by, it suddenly stopped. hundreds of people trying to go both ways on a very narrow sidewalk. people started pushing and i thought to myself “omg, this is not good. if something happens now, it’s going to get ugly.” i felt like i was on a subway train in tokyo during rush hour. i was sweating and couldn’t even move. both hands stuck down with my monkey face mask. i felt pushing from behind and a lot of noise. there was a big fight!!! people throwing punches, people getting hit, people falling down, and people trapped in the middle like me. then i see a light mist of spray in the air. “OMG, the police sprayed pepper spray!!!” everybody’s eyes started to tear, people were screaming, and then the panic set in. i got low, and swam my way out of the crowd like an octopus. i climbed over the gate, jumped on kalakaua, and ran across the street to safety. i stopped and watched the panic and chaos. it was terrible because women and kids were in the middle of everything. after that, i lost all my friends. nowhere to be seen. i walk back to the harley, start it up, and ride home with my mask still on. i don’t think i will participate in next years halloween because it was just too dangerous. i’m surprised that nobody died. thank goodness. but yes, that rumor was true and this is the real story.
and for the police to spray pepper spray in a crowd of innocent people like that was pretty dumb. my eyes still hurt from that night. shame on you guys.
