HONOLULU -- A group of more than 35 people left late in the afternoon after barring officials from entering the grounds of Iolani Palace on Wednesday, claiming sovereign rights over the area.

Officials with the Department of Land and Natural Resources State Parks, which manages the palace in cooperation with the Friends of Iolani Palace, closed the area.

The situation ended without incident at 4 p.m. Authorities did not make arrests.

"What we do want to say is the Hawaiian Kingdom Government is here and it doesn't plan to leave, and the reason why we are here is because our people need help not just kanaka (Native Hawaiians), but everyone,"leader Mahealani Kahau said.

Kahau said they had a legal right to the land at the palace. Group members placed padlocks on gates of the palace. On at least the front gate a yellow sign saying "Warning! No tresspassing," signed by the Hawaiian Kingdom Government.

Kahau said they are the correct rulers of Hawaii.

Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa went to talk with the members, hoping to diffuse the situation. Group members spoke to some state lawmakers from the Capitol next door who stopped by to see what was happening.

A Hawaiian immersion school and others came to offer support. State Sheriffs later prohibited more visitors.

Later in the afternoon, DLNR enforcement officers, backed up by sheriffs, urged the Kingdom members to open the gates. The activists left peacefully at about 4 p.m.

The Hawaiian Kingdom Government members said no matter what the state says or does their intention is to keep coming back to Iolani Palace grounds every day. The Hawaiian Kingdom Government members said they would return to stake their claim but will not lock the palace gates.

Iolani Palace was the official residence of the Hawaiian Kingdom's last two monarchs -- King Kalakaua, who built the palace in 1882, and his sister and successor, Queen Lili`uokalani. The palace is the only official state residence of royalty in the United States.