Updated at 3:21 p.m., Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sovereignty activists hold ceremony at Thomas Square
Advertiser Staff
Hawaiian sovereignty activists commemorated the 1843 restoration of the Kingdom of Hawai'i by British authorities with a brief noontime flag-raising ceremony at Thomas Square today.As brief rain showers chased sunlight around the public park, some 150 people joined hands in a circle and sang Hawai'i Pono'i at 12:30 p.m. as an American flag was lowered, then replaced with a Hawaiian flag.
The event was called Ka La Ho'iho'i Ea, or Hawaiian sovereignty restoration day.
The park is named after British Adm. Richard Thomas, who ordered the Union Jack replaced by the Hawaiian flag on July 31, 1843.
The event was sponsored by more than a dozen pro-sovereignty organizations, including Ka Pakaukau, Pro-Kanaka Maoli Independence Working Group, Kanaka Maoli Tribunal Komike and DMZ Hawai'i/Aloha 'Aina.
