BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Some 300 protesters on a small island off Puerto Rico are waiting for the expected arrival of United States federal authorities. The demonstrators have occupied a Navy bombing range on the island of Vieques for more than a year now, but they're expecting to be arrested soon. CNN's Mike Boettcher joins us with the latest.</s>MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bernie, federal authorities, U.S. authorities are faced with quite a dilemma, and that is how to remove approximately 300 protesters who are scattered in 14 camps, which are surrounded by live ordnances from 50 years of bombing on the eastern end of Vieques island, which is part of Puerto Rico. The protesters have been there for about a year. They include clerics, local residents, some prominent politicians, and some Puerto Rican nationalists. Now, among the protesters at the camp, calm has ruled in those camps, but they are anxious as they try to predict when this raid, as they call it, will come. They predict that it will be tonight. Some say it will be tomorrow. Everyone has a different hour, but they say they will continue on, they will continue their vigil, they will not leave here unless they are dragged from the site. They say they will not use violence, Bernie. They say that they will go peacefully, nonviolently, but that they will remain here until U.S. authorities pull them from this island. Mike Boettcher, CNN, Vieques, Puerto Rico.</s>SHAW: Thank you, Mike. The Pentagon says it needs access to the bombing range on Vieques for several reasons. It's the only place in the region where the Navy can practice amphibious landings. The Pentagon also says this island is not located on a busy air corridor, so there's less danger to passing planes. Also Vieques is not home to any endangered species. The Navy has owned two-thirds of the island since 1941. Originally, it paid $1.5 million for Vieques. Some 9,300 people live on the 52-square mile island.
Protesters on Vieques Prepare for to Be Arrested