Calm in Little Havana as Easter dawns
By Brendan Farrington, Associated Press, 04/23/00
MIAMI -- The streets of Little Havana were nearly deserted early Sunday after police closed streets and ushered away demonstrators protesting the government's return of Elian Gonzalez to his father.
While police remained a presence in the neighborhood, they shed their riot gear as residents began going to Easter services. Only the streets around the Miami home of Elian's relatives remained closed; a large bouquet of red, white and dyed blue flowers had been placed in the silent yard.
Sergio Perez, a neighbor, choked back tears as he talked about Saturday's raid. He predicted there would be few protests and no violence in Miami on Easter.
"It's going to be quiet because today is a celebration for all Christians," Perez said. "We will celebrate in tears."
The protests began Saturday, immediately after the 5 a.m. raid in which federal agents removed the 6-year-old boy and took him away for a flight to Washington to reunite with his father. More than 350 people were arrested, but only minor injuries were reported.
Early Sunday, police dressed in riot gear diverted traffic from main roads to residential areas, putting an end to most demonstrations by 3 a.m. and leaving behind only small straggling groups of demonstrators.
Protesters apparently set several small trash fires after midnight, but there were no immediate reports of violence.
Motorists clogging one street obeyed orders by officers to leave around 2:20 a.m., said Jorge Cabrera, 36, of Miami.
The police "all got together and started telling people `It's over. It's time to go home.' They weren't hostile," Cabrera said.
Five minutes later, most of the protesters had left. Cabrera stayed behind, hanging around outside a restaurant.
The early morning scene was a sharp contrast to the mayhem on the streets Saturday, when unruly protesters were beaten down by riot police with batons and shields.
Sporadic violence that began soon after the raid on Lazaro Gonzalez's house spread across Little Havana, with demonstrators starting hundreds of small fires and uprooting concrete benches.
Police drove from one protest to another in the working-class neighborhood, dragging away protesters young and old and beating many. Some demonstrators fought among themselves, and three officers who were attacked with a bat were hospitalized in stable condition. A 29-year-old man was jailed on charges of attempted murder.
Protesters started more than 207 fires, mostly burning tires and trash. Emergency crews answered at least 69 injury calls while a nearby hospital treated 11 people, all for minor injuries.
Four news photographers -- two video and two still -- were arrested on various charges, police said.
As the night wore on, police closed streets and clamped down on protesters and hundreds of motorists drove at a crawl through various parts of Miami, blocking traffic and honking their horns while passengers cried "Liberty! and "Justice!" in Spanish.
"I'm out here because it was abuse what they did to that child," said Isabel Nedina, 21, as she leaned out the window of a car and waved a Cuban flag.
Demonstrators filled surrounding neighborhoods. About 2,000 people lined the main street of Hialeah, a city just a few miles from Little Havana, for a loud, honking car parade. About 1,000 cars clogged roads west of Coral Gables, five miles from Little Havana.
Police mostly watched as the defiant late-night protests stayed calm.
At the home of Elian's Miami relatives -- the scene of five months of waiting, watching and demonstrations -- no protesters remained by midnight. Only residents could pass police barricades while city crews cleaned up the mess
A fire early Sunday damaged a small tire and brake repair shop on Eighth Street, the symbolic heart of Little Havana, but authorities did not know if it was set by protesters. The fire started about 4:20 a.m. after a pile of old tires ignited.
Elian Gonzalez, held by Donato Dalrymple, is taken by U.S. federal agents from his Miami relatives in a pre-dawn raid. (AP Photo / Alan Diaz)