Proteste anti-Navy

Protestano a Vieques contro la US-Navy: 65 arresti (2 ottobre)

THE WASHINGTON POST

Anti-Navy Protesters Detained on Vieques

Monday, October 2, 2000; Page A02

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Oct. 1 – The Navy detained 65 protesters today near a former weapons depot on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, part of a day of anti-military demonstrations.

The protesters entered the base by crawling under a fence before dawn, Navy spokesman Lt. Jeff Gordon said. They would likely face trespassing charges, he said.

Later in the day, thousands of Puerto Ricans marched to demand that the military abandon the Vieques training ground it has used since the 1940s.

"What's that sound I hear? It's the people on the warpath!" they chanted, waving the blue-and-white flag of Vieques.

Authorities have arrested more than 600 protesters since May. More than 400 await trial on trespassing charges.

The Navy controls about two-thirds of the 20-by-four-mile island. Opposition to the military's presence on Vieques flared in April 1999, when a Marine Corps F-18 jet dropped two 500-pound bombs off target, killing a civilian guard on the range.

Protesters occupied the bombing range to thwart further exercises until U.S. marshals forcibly removed them May 4.

Navy opponents say the military exercises have damaged the environment, stunted the island's economy and endangered residents. The Navy says their claims are exaggerated and argues that the training is necessary to national defense.

President Clinton promised the Navy would abandon the western weapons depot and leave Vieques completely if the island's 9,400 residents vote in a referendum to expel it. That vote is expected before mid-2002.

The march today in Vieques was to culminate events that began with a demonstration in front of the White House on Sept. 22, when hundreds of people chanted for the Navy to leave the Caribbean island. U.S. Park Police said 78 protesters were arrested.

Those arrested were put in plastic handcuffs and loaded onto buses for processing, said Robert Rabin, spokesman for the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, a Puerto Rico-based group that has launched several civil disobedience demonstrations in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Park Police cited the Washington protesters for breaking a federal regulation that prohibits stationary demonstrations in front of the White House, a violation carrying fines up to $50.