article: Protesters opposing the construction of a $1.4billion telescope on a mountain in Hawaii they consider to be sacred were arrested after blocking a road leading to the site. Police arrested 12 protesters Thursday when they tried to block trucks heading to the peak of Mauna Kea where one of the world's largest telescopes is being built. While the Native Hawaiian groups do not oppose the Thirty Meter Telescope itself, they disagree with the location of the construction on Mauna Kea - the highest point in the state which is considered a home of deities. About 300 people took part in the demonstration and those who were arrested were released after they each posted a $250 bail. Scroll down for video . Department of Land and Natural Resources officers arrest a Thirty Meter Telescope protester at the telescope building site on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hilo, Hawaii on Thursday . Thirty Meter Telescope protesters chant after being arrested from the telescope building site on the summit of Mauna Kea . Native Hawaiians believe the site where the telescope is being assembled is sacred because it is where their creation story begins, said Kealoha Pisciotta, an opponent of the telescope project. And scientists believe the site is ideal location for one of the world's largest telescopes because of its remote and sheltered position, nestled in the crater of a dormant volcano. 'It is the burial grounds of some of our most sacred and revered ancestors,' said she said. 'It is a place where we go for sanctuary and release from the world around us, and it is also the home of our god.' All of the highest points in the islands are considered the home of deities, according to Pisciotta. 'I wouldn't consider it civil disobedience. We consider it civil assistance,' protestor Kahookahi Kanuha said reports Hawaii News Now. 'We were attempting to assist the authorities in upholding the law. 'And those who are being disobedient to the law are those with TMT, who are continuing to break the regulations of developing on conservational land.' After the vehicles were allowed to pass, about 40 to 50 people began following the trucks, which moved slowly because of their heavy loads. Protesters are preventing construction of a giant telescope near the summit of a mountain held sacred by Native Hawaiians. Some consider the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope project as desecrating the Big Island's Mauna Kea (on Monday protesters formed a road block outside the Mauna Kea visitors center) Department of Land and Natural Resources officers lead Thirty Meter Telescope protesters from the telescope building site on the summit of Mauna Kea on Thursday . Work got underway after protesters were arrested and their path was cleared to the summit, Sandra Dawson, a spokeswoman for the project, said in an email to The Associated Press. Police said they warned protesters after an incident Monday that anyone who blocked the road would be arrested. On Monday, more than 50 protesters formed a roadblock Monday that stopped about 15 vehicles carrying workers up Mauna Kea, causing workers to wait more than eight hours before making their way down the mountain. 'We regret that police action had to be taken to enable our legal access to the project site,' Thirty Meter Telescope project manager Gary Sanders said in a statement relating to Thursday's arrests. Opponents who question whether land appraisals were done correctly and whether Native Hawaiian groups had been consulted have tried to prevent the construction of the telescope. A Department of Land and Natural Resources officer, center left, comforts a Thirty Meter Telescope protester on the summit . Protests also disrupted a groundbreaking and Hawaiian blessing ceremony last year, but no one was arrested. In fact, some protesters who yelled during the ceremony later apologized to event organizers and helped put away chairs, Pisciotta said. 'We said aloha to each other, and we hugged,' she said. University of Hawaii spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said in a telephone interview that the university is saddened about the arrests, but that access to site must be maintained. 'If the university had a heart, it would be broken right now,' he said about Thursday's arrests. However, 'we have to make sure the road is safe for whoever wants to be there.' The university sub-leases the land atop Mauna Kea for the telescope project, and it has always maintained that protesters would have free access to the site as long as they were not breaking any laws, he said. Meisenzahl said he was not certain why the arrests were made. The observatory is expected to be operational by 2024, the same year a 39-meter telescope is expected to be completed in Chile.
highlights: 12 protesters were arrested after blocking road leading to construction site of one of the world's largest telescopes, Thirty Meter Telescope .
  Critics believe location on Mauna Kea, the highest point in the state,  is considered a home of deities .
  The protesters who were arrested were released after posting $250 bail .
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