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VIEQUES, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Navy dropped 500-pound dummy bombs from jet fighters and fired shells from ships as it resumed exercises on Vieques island Friday, despite the presence of protesters so close they forced a temporary halt to the fire. 

“They’re risking the lives of our people by dropping bombs,” said Robert Rabin, an organizer of demonstrators who say the exercises harm islanders’ health and environment. Navy officials in the U.S. Caribbean territory insist the training does not hurt the island’s 9,400 people and is vital to save American lives in combat. 

Hundreds of protesters around the entrance to the Navy’s Camp Garcia cut through the fence in nearly a dozen places Friday, and there were at least two violent confrontations. 

Navy police fired rubber bullets and pepper spray at young men who hurled rocks and cow manure over a trampled section of fence. Reporters on the scene said at least one man was injured when a rubber bullet hit him in the abdomen. 

Earlier, U.S. marshals fired pepper gas after 32 protesters cut through the fence, unimpeded by about a dozen Puerto Rico police officers just yards away. 

While the Navy complained about the police inaction, Puerto Rico’s top law enforcer, Police Chief Pierre Vivoni, complained about the marshals: “I saw that they were using pepper gas against the people detained, even when they were already detained, and that is improper.” 

At least 46 people were arrested Thursday and Friday and all would be prosecuted for trespassing on federal land, the Navy said. 

Four Puerto Rican legislators sent by boat to see whether the exercises were violating a local noise law were detained briefly by the U.S. Coast Guard as they approached restricted waters, then allowed to continue sailing outside the military zone. 

Rabin said an unknown number of demonstrators who cut through fences and breached the area by boat remained in the 12,000-acre (4,800-hectare) military zone Friday afternoon. 

The Navy said there were no intruders on the 900-acre firing range on the island’s eastern tip, which federal agents scoured through the night with helicopters, dogs and foot patrols. 

“The range is green ... There’s nobody out there to pose a danger to,” said spokesman Lt. Corey Barker. “They wouldn’t do the exercises unless it was perfectly safe.” 

Nevertheless, eight protesters were discovered on a small island within 100 yards of the target zone, where the exercises began with bombing runs shortly after 9 a.m. 

Navy spokesman Jeff Gordon said the protesters were spotted just before a ship was to begin shelling – “close enough to the range to suspend the exercise.” 

The shelling began about an hour and half later. 

Among protesters who may still be in the restricted area are opposition Sen. Norma Burgos and Myrta Sanes, sister of civilian security guard David Sanes, whose April 1999 death by 500-pound bombs dropped off target on the range provoked an explosion of public anger and anti-U.S. sentiment. 

Protesters occupied the range after the guard’s death, preventing exercises until they were removed by U.S. marshals in May 2000. Since then, training has been limited to inert ammunition and hundreds of protesters have been arrested. 

About 15,000 sailors and Marines are taking part in the latest exercises, which involve the Norfolk, Va.-based aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and about a dozen cruisers and destroyers. They are expected to last several days. 

On Thursday, a federal judge turned down a last-minute court action from the Puerto Rican government complaining that the exercises could harm islanders’ health and violate the new noise law. 

Puerto Rican officials claimed a partial victory in the court case, noting U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler was disturbed by “an implied promise” from Navy officials to postpone the drills until the Department of Health and Human Services completed a review of studies linking noise from the exercises to islanders’ heart problems. 

Friday’s exercises were the first since Gov. Sila Calderon was elected in November, in part because of her demands for an immediate end to the bombing exercises. 

The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques and says the bombing range, which covers 3 percent of the island, is the only one where it can simultaneously practice amphibious invasions, ship-to-shore shelling and bombing from aircraft. 

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On the Net: 

U.S. government statements on Vieques: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/facilities/vieques 

U.S. Navy site: http://www.navyvieques.navy.mil 

Vieques resident’s site: 

http://www.vieques-island.com/board/navy/study.html