BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND CURTIS MORGAN

 The tear gas was gone from Little Havana on Sunday but the sting of protesters' clashes
 with police remained.

 Echoing the cries of many caught up in the unrest, some exile leaders expressed outrage at
 the hard-nosed handling of crowds by officers, particularly those from the city of Miami.

 ''Keep in mind that protesters did not burn down a single business or home,'' said
 Juan Perez-Franco of the Bay of Pigs Brigade 2506. ''There was no need for such force.''

 Police sharply disagreed, pointing to Sunday's peaceful streets and undamaged
 shops as proof.

 ''We had a situation that could have turned incredibly catastrophic, and we had no
 significant injuries and no significant property loss,'' Miami Police Chief William
 O'Brien said.

 Crowds chanted and prayed at the home of Elian Gonzalez's relatives Sunday,
 but otherwise Little Havana was quiet. Flagler Street -- the center of Saturday's
 skirmishes -- had been swept clean of debris.

 POLICE PRESENCE

 Police, without riot gear, maintained a high-profile presence Sunday but made few
 additions to Saturday's arrest tally -- 303 by Miami officers, 59 by Miami-Dade
 personnel.

 The final count of trash fires topped 200, with only a handful ignited after midnight.
 Emergency crews rushed to 70 minor injury calls. Three Miami officers, allegedly
 attacked by a bat-wielding protester who has been charged with attempted murder,
 were hospitalized. Another broke a hand.

 O'Brien said his 700 officers, assisted by 650 from Miami-Dade, used minimum
 muscle at first on Saturday.

 ''Our officers were without protective gear, trying to do the smiling,
 nonconfrontational  approach,'' he said. But by 11 a.m., he said, it was clear that
 that approach wasn't working. Rocks smashed a cruiser window. A large crowd
 swarmed to the corner of Flager Street and Northwest 27th Avenue, blocked
 traffic and started a fire.

 Once that happened, O'Brien said, ''the police department needs to respond
 quickly, forcefully and decisively. If that's not done, the tone is given that the police
 department is not in control of the streets.''

 RETREAT AND RETURN

 Officers retreated, then returned in riot gear. After hours of seesaw clashes with
 protesters, O'Brien said, police defused the powder keg by 5 p.m. by making
 arrests and firing dozens of cannisters of tear gas.

 But critics said the demonstrations had not threatened to escalate seriously and
 that the vast majority of protesters were peaceful.

 Jose Basulto of Brothers to the Rescue said he believes the department attacked
 demonstrators to divert attention from ''the real crime -- Elian's seizure.''

 ''My impression is that the police had instructions to provoke violence,'' he said.
 ''It's possible there was secret collaboration of the police with the federal
 government, given what the mayor had said.''

 Many protesters complained that police plucked people from the street without
 provocation, gassed some bystanders and manhandled many others.

 Miami Lt. Bill Schwartz said it was impossible to comment about individual
 encounters without first-hand knowledge but added, ''We are going to have people
 with different points of view about how a situation goes down.''

 People with complaints, he said, could call the department's internal affairs
 division.

 SPECIAL MEASURES

 O'Brien said officers employed techniques that Miami Police developed after the
 1980 riots following the acquittal of four white Miami-Dade police officers in the
 beating death of Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman. Police
 departments nationwide have sent officers to Miami to learn the crowd-control
 techniques, O'Brien said.

 Marching in tight ranks behind plastic shields, officers swept the streets, quickly
 packing off to jail any protester who resisted orders to move.

 ''This line formation takes great self-control,'' O'Brien said. ''If you're hit with a rock,
 you can't break ranks. When done properly, it's a very intimidating technique.''

 Only when confronted by crowds tossing rocks or refusing to disperse did officers
 use tear gas, he said. He called the gas ''very humane.''

 ''The effects of chemical agents wear off in two hours,'' he said. ''When you have to
 confront a crowd hand to hand, those effects don't wear off in two hours or two
 days.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald