By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          VIEQUES, Puerto Rico -- Masked federal agents 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.