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In the leadup to the date for independence, there were ongoing diplomatic spats. Six naval vessels appeared in East Timorese territorial waters on Friday, May 17. The official reason give for this was to protect President [[Megawati Sukarnoputri]] who was attending the ceremony, although thousands of UN soldiers in East Timor had guaranteed her security. The East Timorese interim government conditionally granted permission for the Indonesian landing ship ''Teluk Sampit'' to enter the port of Dili; however, it had 120 armed soldiers on board instead of the previously nominated 15. Because of this, the ship therefore left the harbour again to anchored a few hundred meters off the coast.
Dili's Bishop, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate [[Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo]], on Sunday May 15 celebrated a Mass at his residence at 7 a.m. All members of the future government and the National Parliament were invited to the service. The flag of East Timor was blessed, and raised at midnight. Delegations representing countries form all over the world arrived during the day, including former President [[Bill Clinton]], Angola's Foreign Minister [[João Bernardo de Miranda]], Australian Prime Minister [[John Howard]], Brazilian Foreign Minister [[Celso Lafer]], [[List of prime ministers of Portugal|Portuguese Prime Minister]] [[José Manuel Barroso]] and President [[Jorge Sampaio]] and New Zealand's Prime Minister [[Helen Clark]]. [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary General]] [[Kofi Annan]] landed in the capital Dili in the afternoon. A total of 300 guests of honour from 90 different countries attended the independence ceremony.
At 1 pm East Timorese protested over the dispute over the demarcation line against Australia in front of the old town market. Following that, the opening of the “Expo Esperança” (“Exhibition of Hope”) took place there, with Prime Minister [[John Howard]] and East Timorese Chief Minister and Prime Minister-designate [[Mari Alkatiri|Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri]]. At 5:45 pm Kofi Annan opened the Parque de Paz (Peace Park) in Lecidere.
In the three weeks leading up to Independence Day, a statue of the Virgin Mary, brought from Fátima in Italy by Bishop Belo, travelled around the country. East Timor, being largely a Catholic state, was dedicated to the "Our Lady of Fátima" on Independence Day. The statue is now in Dili Cathedral.
East Timor officially regained independence on 20 May 2002 after three years under the [[United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor|United Nations Interim Administration for East Timor (UNTAET)]].<ref name="Guardian indy day">{{Cite web |date=2002-05-20 |title=East Timor celebrates becoming a nation |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/20/indonesia.easttimor2 |access-date=2022-04-06 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=2022-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406053105/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/20/indonesia.easttimor2 |url-status=live }}</ref> From East Timor's perspective, this was the re-establishment of national independence, following the proclamation of independence from Portugal on November 28, 1975, and the [[Indonesian invasion of East Timor|Indonesian occupation nine days later]]. May 20 is a national holiday in East Timor as [[Independence Day (East Timor)|Independence Day or "Day of Restoration of Independence"]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=A song of freedom for East Timor |url=https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2002/5/3cee32ae2/song-freedom-east-timor.html |access-date=2022-04-06 |website=UNHCR |language=en |archive-date=2023-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326183229/https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2002/5/3cee32ae2/song-freedom-east-timor.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
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