By Herald staff

 Hundreds of demonstrators showed up at the Little Havana home of Elian
 Gonzalez's relatives this morning, vowing to help the family defy the federal
 government's order to turn the boy over to his father.

 Ozzy Rodriguez, 24, said he has been at the Gonzalez home every day for
 months.

 ``I don't want that kid to go back,'' Rodriguez said. ''He deserves to be in freedom.''

 By 9:20 a.m., the crowd of protesters had grown to about 200. They chanted,
 waved Cuban flags and waved signs in support of keeping Elian with his Miami
 relatives.

 One sign read: ``Reno blunders: Ruby Ridge ... Waco, TX ... Miami ???''

 Betty Hijazi, a Coral Gables astrologer, said she was disappointed with what she
 considered to be a low turnout.

 ``If we were 15,000 people they couldn't take us out of here, but with this small
 crowd all they need is a few officers because we are not violent people,'' she said.

 On Tuesday night, about 15,000 people showed up at a prayer vigil near the
 Gonzalez family home.

 ``This is the moment,'' Hijazi said. ``We didn't need 15,000 people the day of the
 prayer vigil. This is the day that we will find out if they are going to kick us, if we
 are going to be violent.''

 Although protesters were held back by barricades, Rodriguez showed it was easy
 enough to break through using a lighter and a piece of wood to break the plastic
 handcuffs holding a barricade to a fence. Police later reinforced the barricades
 with chains.

 ``Today is going to be hectic. It's going to be a wild day,'' Rodriguez said.

 Protesters also showed solidarity in supporting Javier Hernandez, a
 Mexican-American from San Antonio, Texas, who came to work at the Dade
 County Youth Fair and became embroiled in the cause to keep Elian in Miami.

 Hernandez tried to cut through barricades early today and was arrested by Miami
 police.

 Vivian Trigo, 41, a former West Miami commissioner, led the effort to try and raise
 $750 to help Hernandez post bail.

 ``He did nothing. He just hasn't slept for a few days,'' she said. ``Basically he has
 been helping out our community. He has really felt our pain.''

 Trigo used a bullhorn to reach the fund-raising goal and by 9 a..m. they'd raised
 the money, causing the crowd to erupt into loud cheers.

 Early this morning, the crowd had a scare when a news helicopter was mistaken
 for a National Guard helicopter there to take the boy. Protesters ran to the back of
 the house to try and surround the house.

 ``We don't know where the helicopter is coming from,''said Monica Rodriguez, of
 Miami Beach.

 A flyer from a ``family with 40 years in exile'' was also circulated amongst the
 protesters. The flyer asked for a ``peaceful and civilized'' protest and called for the
 exile community to boycott trips to Cuba for six months.

 Herald Staff Writer Sandra Marquez Garcia contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald