The Navy resumed its controversial training at the Vieques bombing range yesterday after more than a year’s suspension.
In a brief statement, a Navy spokesman said warplanes from the nearby naval station Roosevelt Roads used dummy bombs at the Puerto Rican island.
The resumption came four days after U.S. authorities detained and removed 216 demonstrators from the area.
Six more protesters were seized over the weekend, and two more yesterday.
“We continue to ensure the security of the range,” Navy spokesman Robert Nelson said.
But protesters said the Navy resumed training even though authorities knew some demonstrators were still in the area.
“It is an act of provocation,” said protester Angel de Leon.
The protesters had occupied the range since April 1999, when two 500-pound bombs dropped by a Marine Corps F-14 missed their target and killed a civilian security guard.
The Navy suspended live ammunition training, but in January, President Clinton and Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Rossello agreed to permit the Navy to resume training with the “dummy” bombs.
As part of that agreement, Vieques residents will vote on whether the Navy should leave Vieques by 2003.