[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2001 10:25 PM Subject: US Navy Calls Vieques Protests 'Irresponsible Stunt' [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Navy Calls Vieques Protests 'Irresponsible Stunt' http://news.lycos.com/headlines/topnews/article.asp?docid=RTNEWS-ARMS-VIEQUES- DC&date=20010429 Sunday, April 29, 2001 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy suspended bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques on Sunday out of respect for a religious celebration, but criticized protests aimed at thwarting the training as "incredibly irresponsible publicity stunts." U.S. Navy security forces, federal marshals and the Coast Guard have arrested 128 demonstrators accused of trespassing on Navy property on Vieques in a bid to halt the training, which was intermittently interrupted on Friday and Saturday. Protesters threw stones and bottles at sailors, injuring one, and ripped through part of a fence surrounding the Camp Garcia Naval station on Vieques, an island off the east coast of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. "These so-called nonviolent protesters are often quite violent," said Navy spokesman Lt. Jeff Gordon. The exercises began Friday with air-to-ground bombing and ship-to-shore shelling with unarmed ordnance. It was halted on Sunday to honor of the beatification ceremony at the Vatican of Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican layman and patron of the liturgical movement in the Caribbean island. Beatification is a step toward sainthood. The exercises, set to resume at midday on Monday, involved 15,000 sailors, Marines and vessels from the USS Enterprise battle group training in Vieques en route to the Persian Gulf. The protesters and Puerto Rico Gov. Sila Calderon say the exercises damage the health of Vieques' 9,000 civilian residents and harm the environment. The Navy rejects the charge and a federal judge refused last week to halt the exercises, ruling the Puerto Rican government failed to show the shelling would case irreparable harm. The United States has used Vieques, a 33,000-acre (13,355 hectare) island, as a bombing range for more than 50 years. It says the island allows realistic training in amphibious landings, ship-to-shore shelling and air-to-ground bombing, which is necessary for military preparedness. Angry protests swept Puerto Rico after the death of a civilian security guard during a botched bombing run two years ago. The Navy stopped using live ammunition after that, carrying out subsequent training with unarmed shells. Demonstrators, many waving Puerto Rican flags, clapped and chanted "Navy no, Vieques si," outside the gates to the camp. Others sneaked into the camp and a few reached the bombing range, disrupting the exercises. Navy security forces fired pepper spray at unruly protesters who refused orders to halt on the Navy property, Gordon said. Calderon, who made expelling the Navy from Vieques a key plank in her gubernatorial campaign platform, expressed disappointment that the exercise was allowed to proceed. "I'm so sorry it has come to this," she said in a Sunday New York Times interview. "It has been a very difficult time for us." But Calderon also criticized the protesters who tore through the fence, saying: "All eyes of the world are on Puerto Rico. We should show them we are peaceful people." Celebrities and politicians have joined the protests, with environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr., actor Edward James Olmos, singer-songwriter Robi Draco and U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez among those detained on Navy property and turned over to federal marshals for arrest on trespassing charges. "It's been lamentable the number of people that have come to Vieques to participate in these incredibly irresponsible publicity stunts," Gordon said. "They not only put their own lives at risk but also those of Navy security personnel attempting to remove them from the area and ultimately 15,000 sailors and Marines preparing to go overseas into harm's way." The Navy has also complained that Puerto Rican authorities have failed to call out riot police to quell the protests. The Coast Guard seized a small boat late on Saturday trying to enter the bombing range and charged its operators with felony trespass in violation of national security provisions. Copyright ©2001 Reuters Limited. 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