THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI -- About a dozen people who protested the removal of Elian Gonzalez from his family's Miami home have sued police, alleging they were arrested without reason or abused by local officials.

The lawsuits were filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Thursday, the fourth anniversary of the raid that led to the Cuban boy's return home.

Several protesters alleged that police illegally arrested them as they were demonstrating on April 22, 2000, in the streets of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. Other plaintiffs said they were hit by officers and forced to undergo strip searches at the county jail.

The nine lawsuits accuse police of false arrest, battery and civil rights violations. The plaintiffs each seek a trial and at least $15,000 in damages plus court costs.

Police spokesman Delrish Moss said Friday that he could not comment because the department had not yet seen the complaints.

Elian was found clinging to an inner tube in the waters off Florida's coast in November 1999 after a shipwreck that killed his mother and others fleeing Cuba. He was turned over to his Miami relatives while his custody situation was resolved.

The raid took place after government officials said the family refused to return the boy to his father in Cuba.