U.S. Navy resumes Vieques bombing exercises

Demonstrators hold a large Puerto Rican flag during an anti-Navy rally near the Capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Thursday

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy has resumed bombing practice on Puerto Rico's Vieques Island on Friday after detaining eight protesters who had taken a boat to a tiny island off the coast of the bombing range.

A larger group of protesters were gathered outside the gates leading onto the range, seeking to stop the Navy's use of the land for practice.

Earlier, Navy A-4 bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise began bombing but stopped minutes later when the protesters were spotted on the island. Security forces were dispatched to remove them.

MESSAGE BOARD Vieques protests

Officials said that five other protesters were found overnight on the grounds of the range. Protesters say more of their number are still on the grounds.

The Navy began the bombing practice after a federal judge ruled on Thursday against Puerto Rico's request for an emergency injunction to block the bombing.

Meanwhile, protesters outside the bombing range were forming a human chain and said they would try to break through security to get onto the range as well.

About 1,000 protesters rallied Thursday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, outside the Capitol building before heading to Fajardo for a ferry ride to Vieques.

Roberto Rabin, spokesman for the Committee of Peace for Vieques, had warned the protesters will try to disrupt the exercises this weekend.

Puerto Rico had sought a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block the drills, and U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler's ruling applies only to that request.

"We have a strong case, a difficult case, but a strong case. ... I'm confident were going to prevail on the merits," said Eugene Gulland, an attorney representing the Puerto Rican government. He said Puerto Rico hopes to resolve the matter through talks with the Bush administration.

Kessler rejected arguments from attorneys for Puerto Rico that the coming exercise would inflict irreparable harm on people living near the range. The Department of Health and Human Services is studying whether the noise can be linked to some health problems in residents of Vieques.

Justice Department attorneys had argued the United States has the right to continue the drills while broader questions over noise are resolved.

A U.S. soldier looks down on the island of Vieques where the U.S. Navy has conducted bombing exercises since 1941

Last year, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested as they sought to block use of the bombing range, protesting the accidental bombing death of a civilian there. In April 1999, a Marine Corps jet inadvertently dropped two bombs off target, killing a civilian guard working on the bombing range.

The Pentagon says it needs the range, which it has used since 1941, for combat training for Navy and Marine pilots.

"We continue to say that the training down there is very, very important. Realistic training is one of the reasons that the United States military is as effective as it is around the world," said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley. "And Vieques is a superb training range, the best in the entire Atlantic for the uses that the Navy and Marine Corps need to put it toward."

He added that the training there "is absolutely essential to the value and the realism and the preparedness of our military forces as they prepare to deploy forward."

CNN Producers Paul Courson, Allison Flexner and Correspondent John Zarrella contributed to this report.

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Vieques Island, Puerto Rico
Government of Puerto Rico - Office of the Governor
U.S. Navy
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
  • Judge Gladys Kessler
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
U.S. Department of Justice

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