By Chris Hawley
              The Associated Press

              VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Masked federal agents this morning peacefully removed protesters,
              including two U.S. lawmakers, from the gates of a U.S. Navy bombing range on Vieques Island they
              had blocked for more than a year.

              Protesters at the main entrance to the range and at other sites within were taken away within 40
              minutes, but agents in helicopters were continuing to move on about a dozen other camps, including
              that of Puerto Rico's Independence Party leader Ruben Berrios.

              It was unclear how the operation was going on the bomb-strewn range, where some protesters have
              threatened to scatter into the bush around unexploded ordnance they have marked out --
              posing a threat to themselves and any pursuers.

              At the gates to the Navy's Camp Garcia, those detained were taken to a guardhouse where some
              held up their hands to show they had been handcuffed.

              "Puerto Rico has been invaded again," New York City councilman Jose Rivera said as he was led
              away by a U.S. marshal. "I can promise you tomorrow there will be civil disobedience all over
              the United States."

              He was taken away along with New York state legislator Roberto Ramirez and U.S. Rep. Nydia
              Velazquez, D-N.Y., who said: "We are here to express our solidarity, and that solidarity has no
              limits."

              U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., also was detained at a makeshift chapel of religious groups inside the
              bombing range when the agents arrived. With Gutierrez were at least two bishops and a dozen nuns.

              "They are trying to be extremely kind and generous and courteous but I think they understand that they
              are wrong because they have lost any moral authority," Gutierrez said.

              Protesters have said that if detained, they would be replaced by others who would cut through the
              fence and could go in on horseback.

              Opponents charge the exercises have damaged their health, coral reefs, fishing grounds and
              endangered species and have stunted development on the island, where the Navy employs only 100
              local people and unemployment is 18 percent, compared to the island average of 12 percent.

              A raid to clear the base has been expected since Monday, when three U.S. warships, reportedly
              carrying 1,000 Marines, arrived in the Vieques area, looming ominously offshore before retreating
              a little farther to sea. The Marines reportedly would secure the range's perimeter once protesters are
              removed.

              Earlier today, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it was taking "immediate action" and blockading
              waters and land adjacent to the bombing range -- on the eastern end of the island. A Coast Guard
              statement warned vessels and people to stay away from the waters until midnight May 13.

              Today's raid came despite calls for President Clinton -- including from his wife, Hillary Rodham
              Clinton, and the World Council of Churches -- to avoid a confrontation and instead hold an
              immediate referendum for the people of Vieques to decide whether they wanted the Navy to continue
              its exercises.

              On Wednesday, Gutierrez said he believed there was "a struggle going on (in Washington) between
              those who are responding positively to the wishes and claims for justice of the people of Vieques and
              another group that just wishes to arrest everybody and is with the military," he said.

              Protesters invaded the range after two 500-pound bombs were launched off-target, killing civilian
              security guard David Sanes Rodriguez, 35, on April 19, 1999.

              The Navy said Sanes was the first fatality in 60 years of exercises on Vieques.

              It says the Vieques range is vital to national security and is the only place its Atlantic fleet can conduct
              simultaneous air, sea and amphibious training using live munitions. It has been blocked since stray
              bombs killed Sanes, unleashing pent up frustrations throughout Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 4 million
              Spanish speakers.

              Today, federal agents arrived in vans with no lights, and were backed by glum-looking Puerto Rican
              anti-riot police in bulletproof vests, carrying sidearms and batons. The Puerto Rican police have
              said they would be in charge only of crowd control -- not arrests.

              "You must leave the property immediately ... If you do not leave promptly, we will have to remove
              you," a U.S. Marshal said over a megaphone at 5:15 a.m.

              Within minutes, four helicopters, one with red lights blinking, swept toward the range and the protest
              camps.

              Copyright 2000 The Associated Press