Honolulu police hid under cover of darkness and raided Occupy Honolulu at 3 a.m. this morning (Wednesday, March 14, 2012). The early-morning raid assured that no media would be present to report on the police action.
Occupy Honolulu maintains a live-stream, which did catch the action as police confiscated tents and other belongings. The video is posted on this web page and also below.
Although Honolulu's new law requires that the items be returned to their owners, there are reports that the city has refused to do so recently.
Hawaii's state constitution provides unique protections which the law under which the police raided the Occupy Honolulu encampment may be violating.
Police seized literature and art from the encampment along with tents and personal possessions while Madori Rumpungworn recited the Kanawai Mamalahoe, the Law of the Splintered Paddle, which is incorporated into the State Constitution and guarantees that all who lie by the roadside be undisturbed.
[The Doug Note, Police seize tents and personal possessions on day 130 Occupy Honolulu, 3/14/2012]
The Law of the Splintered Paddle is part of Hawaii's state constitution and derives from Kingdom law. Article IX Section 10 reads: "The law of the splintered paddle, mamala-hoe kanawai, decreed by Kamehameha I--Let every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety--shall be a unique and living symbol of the State's concern for public safety."
Regardless of arguments that this provision is an anachronism, it remains in force in the state constitution. The assertion can be made that the newly passed municipal law, ""Bill 54," under which the police confiscated the property of Occupy campers, directly violates this article of Hawaii's constitution.
For those interested in the Law of the Splintered Paddle, here it is in both the original Hawaiian and in English:
The complete original 1797 law in Hawaiian:
Kānāwai Māmalahoe :
E nā kānaka,
E mālama 'oukou i ke akua
A e mālama ho'i ke kanaka nui a me kanaka iki;
E hele ka 'elemakule, ka luahine, a me ke kama
A moe i ke ala
'A'ohe mea nāna e ho'opilikia.
Hewa nō, make.
-Kamehameha I
English translation:
Law of the Splintered Paddle:
Oh people,
Honor thy god;
Respect alike [the rights of] people both great and humble;
May everyone, from the old men and women to the children
Be free to go forth and lay in the road (i.e. by the roadside or pathway)
Without fear of harm.
Break this law, and die.
Click the thingy at the lower right for full screen.