2 Sailors Hurt in Protests Over Vieques
Protesters hurled iron bars at U.S. sailors at sea and crept under “no trespassing” fences on land, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday, as more than 130 demonstrators intensified their fight to oust the Navy from the Vieques Island training range where it practices bombing and shelling.
Puerto Rican fishermen wielding the metal bars injured two U.S. sailors at sea, the Navy said. On the nearby island, guards arrested 135 Independence Party demonstrators who invaded the bombing range to disrupt the Navy’s shelling.
The confrontation was the first since Navy ships and warplanes resumed bombing with nonexplosive “dummy” rounds last weekend.
The unrest renewed a 14-month-old dispute on Vieques, a populated Puerto Rican island that is also the site of the Navy’s prime Atlantic Fleet training ground. Activists committed to ousting the Navy say the bombing destroys fishing grounds and endangers residents. The Navy maintains the bombing is safe and provides crucial training for American sailors and airmen.
The protests began before dawn Tuesday when protesters tried to invade the training ground and were rounded up by guards. Meanwhile, Navy officials said, two sailors were hurt in an assault after fishermen on five boats surrounded a small Navy patrol boat just off Vieques.
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