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Morning News

Miami Relatives of Elian Gonzalez to Seek Court Action to Prevent Boy's Return to Cuba

Aired January 7, 2000 - 9:06 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: By this time next week, January 14, 6- year-old Elian Gonzalez is supposed to be reunited with his father in Cuba, but relatives in Miami are expected to seek court action today to block that return. Meanwhile, Cuban exiles in Southern Florida are taking to the streets there to show their anger over the decision to send the young boy back to Cuba.

CNN's Mark Potter is watching it all now live from Miami.

Mark, hello.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill. Good morning to you.

The commotion has even affected little Elian Gonzalez himself. We're at his home in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood at the home of the relatives who have been caring for him. Elian was scheduled to go to school, we were told, but now we're told he's not going to because of all the activity, the demonstrations, and there are concerns for his safety. So we saw him just a short while ago playing in the front yard with a puppy.

Now, yesterday, it was a different story. It was a day of protest, a day of heated emotions in Miami as Cuban exiles took to the streets to express their great dissatisfaction with the INS. About 50 police officers around midnight used tear gas to disperse a crowd of about 100 protesters. Throughout the day yesterday and into the night, demonstrators blocked a number of intersections and brought traffic to a halt in order to make their political point.

In another incident, two protesters were injured when a car went through a group of demonstrators, knocking two of them onto the hood and then onto the ground. Both were taken to a hospital. At another location, a police officer was hit by a car.

Now, all of this began yesterday afternoon in downtown Miami with what was originally a rather quiet rally that got out of hand at the federal building. The crowd broke through barricades and through the police officers who tried unsuccessfully to stop them. The demonstrators marched a few blocks to the Port of Miami where they then sat down in the middle of the road -- in the middle of Biscayne Boulevard, again to block traffic. About an hour later, police made dozens of arrests and finally cleared that scene. Overall, police tell us that more than 100 arrests were made yesterday, and no one would be surprised here, Bill, if there were more protests today.

One other bit of news: As you said, the lawyers are expected to go to court at some point to make their attempt to try to keep the boy from going back to Cuba. They were working all night, we're told.

This is Mark Potter, CNN, reporting live from Miami.

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