A Honolulu District Court judge denied motions Wednesday by six Occupy Honolulu members to dismiss charges stemming from remaining in Thomas Square beyond park hours in November.

District Judge Linda K.C. Luke said city park rules serve "a substantial governmental interest in preserving public health and safety of the public at large."

The protesters argued that their constitutional right to free speech was violated because the city has not offered reasonable alternatives for them to express themselves. They said 16 of 74 parks in the Honolulu area are open 24 hours a day, but that none of the 16 is in a highly visible area. Occupy Honolulu has used Thomas Square for its protest against government and Wall Street.

But Deputy Prosecutor Cathy Lowenberg said that besides being able to demonstrate elsewhere, the protesters are allowed to continue their vigil on the sidewalk when the park is closed from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily.

Police arrested the two women and four men on Nov. 5 because they were in the park after the 10 p.m. closing time. The offense is a petty misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The six defendants are Jamie Baldwin, 23; Megan Brooker, 26; Lucas Miller, 29; Randall Perez, 28; Luke Satsuma, 19; and Nikolas Wooden, 23. Wooden lives in Kapahulu; the other five said they live in Makiki.

The trial began after Occupy Honolulu attorney Erik Kvam’s motions for dismissal were denied.

Shari Tamamoto, a city land surveyor, testified that the Department of Design and Construction’s Division of Land Survey and Acquisition was assigned to "locate existing improvements" at Thomas Square at the end of December 2011. Under questioning by Lowenberg, Tamamoto said at no time was she and her staff told to change any borders that existed on a rough map and written description of the boundaries that accompanied a May 2001 executive order that transferred the deed to Thomas Square from the state to the city.

"The boundary was always the grass on the sidewalk," Lowenberg said.

But defense attorney Kvam said neither the state nor city had a clear idea of where the park boundaries were when his defendants were arrested. "They had to go the surveyors office and commission a survey of Thomas Square Park after the defendants were arrested to figure out where the park boundaries were."

Occupy Honolulu members have said they have repeatedly been denied copies of park boundaries — until trial began Wednesday.

Trial continues at 1:30 p.m. April 4.

Eight people originally were arrested for violating park rules. Occupy Honolulu supporters said one man and one woman pleaded no contest to a lesser offense of trespassing because they had to leave the island.