HAWAII KINGDOM GOVERNMENT BACK AT `IOLANI PALACE

US Occupiers Still Trying To "Nickel & Dime" Hawaiian Patriots

Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom Government returned to `Iolani Palace before 6 AM this morning and said they will continue to occupy the mauka side of the grounds indefinitely.

The sovereignty group first arrived on the grounds early Wednesday morning when about 75 of the kingdom's representatives locked and blocked the entrances to the grounds and called it their "seat of government."

Last week, DLNR officials told the group that if they return they must have a permit starting today to assemble on the palace lawn.

Representatives of the kingdom did fill out a request for an assembly permit with the state on Friday, but it was incomplete and returned. The permit was being reviewed again this morning, DLNR officials said.

The kingdom's representatives were also warned that, starting this week, the parking meters on the grounds had to be fed for all of their vehicles or they would be ticketed. Last week, state officials declined to cite the group for not filling the meters.

At least eight parking stalls were being used by the group early this morning.

Mahealani Kahau, the "head of the state" for the Hawaiian Kingdom, was not one of the early arrivals for the sovereignty group, but arrived later.

Her brother, who is the kingdom's "Minister of Interior," was on hand, as was the kingdom's head of security and some guards.

OCCUPATION OF PALACE RENEWS CALLS FOR A FREE HAWAI`I

New York Times - Saturday, May 3, 2008

HONOLULU — A Native Hawaiian independence group laid claim this week to the nation’s only royal palace and the land surrounding it, raising anew the issue of self-determination for the islands’ native people.

Several dozen people from the group, the little-known Hawaiian Kingdom Government, were at `Iolani Palace grounds in downtown Honolulu on Friday, two days after locking the public out for several hours.

“We are here - we’re not going to go,” said the group’s leader, Mahealani Kahau, who had a security detail of a half-dozen men surrounding her Friday on a corner of the lawn behind the palace where they had erected a tent.

Ms. Kahau said members of her group planned to return to the 11-acre palace complex, a public park abutting the Hawai`i Capitol, every day except Saturdays and Sundays.

HAWAIIAN KINGDOM BACK AT PALACE TO CONDUCT BUSINESS
Honolulu Advertiser - May 1st, 2008

About 50 to 75 members and supporters of the sovereignty group Hawaiian Kingdom Government occupied the mauka-`ewa corner of the `Iolani Palace grounds from early this morning but did not try to stop others from going onto the property as they did yesterday.

Group members, including leader Mahealani Kahau, declined to speak to media, saying they were inaccurately and unfairly portrayed regarding their actions yesterday.

The group said its action was not a protest or demonstration but a reoccupying of its legitimate seat of government, unidentified security officers told The Advertiser today.

The unidentified members also denied putting up any locks at any of the palace gates yesterday, insisting that while they closed gates the only locks that were up were placed by state personnel.

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`IOLANI PALACE ACTION RECEIVES WORLDWIDE PRESS COVERAGE

Over 291 Articles Worldwide By All Major News Media

Yesterday's events by Hawai`i Nationalists at `Iolani Palace received widespread world-wide media coverage.

It was the third item from the top earlier today on Googles front page, receiving widespread coverage all across the US, Canada and as far away as Austria.

Over 291 articles were published or aired, including NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Associated Press, New York Times, among others.