Native Hawaiian protesters padlocked and chained the main entrance of the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaako today in a demonstration against University of Hawaii patents on taro.

After chaining the entrance shut, protesters, dressed in white malo, held kapu sticks in front of the building. The protesters confronted Board of Regents Chairwoman Kitty Lagareta as she approached the medical school just before 9 a.m. for the monthly meeting of the board.

Walter Ritte, a protest leader, asked Lagareta to respect the kapu and the Hawaiian people. He called on the university to drop its patents on taro before any talks on resolving the issue.