Joy and fury over Elian

Fidel Castro congratulates Elian's grandmothers

Veteran communist leader Fidel Castro has declared victory in front of thousands of flag-waving Cubans following the seizure of Elian Gonzalez from his relatives in Miami.

The chilling picture of a little boy being removed from his home at gunpoint defies the values of America

George W Bush

The jubilation in Cuba contrasted with an explosion of anger on the streets of Miami, where protesters set tyres and refuse ablaze and braved tear gas fired by police.

There were more than 250 arrests in Miami and more than 200 small fires were put out - mostly burning rubbish containers.

Armed US agents had snatched Elian from the home of his Miami relatives in pre-dawn raid on Saturday.

Miami protesters set fire to tyres and rubbish

The reunion between the Cuban castaway and his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez at a US air force base in Maryland was "a shared victory" between the Cuban and US Governments, Castro told a crowd numbering tens of thousands.

'Day of truce'

"I would say that today is a day of truce, perhaps the only one in the course of these 41 years of confrontation with the United States," Castro told the rally at Jaguey Grande in Matanzas province, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Havana.

He was speaking at the same sugar mill he used 39 years ago to direct operations against the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles.

In Miami, groups of young men confronted rows of police armed with batons and riot shields in the Little Havana neighbourhood. The police fired tear gas repeatedly to disperse the rioters.

Elian was reunited with his father on Saturday

A BBC correspondent in the city says many Cuban exiles regard the US authorities' snatching of Elian as an act of treachery and appeasement of Castro.

Elian has been at the centre of a bitter custody battle between his Miami relatives and his Cuban father since he was shipwrecked off the Florida coast last November.

Elian's reunion with his father followed a morning of dramatic events in Miami, after Attorney-General Janet Reno ordered law enforcement officers into Little Havana to take the boy by force.

Elian has become a focus of anti-Castro sentiment among Cuban exiles since the shipwreck in which his mother died.

Exiles' anger

Hundreds of people jammed the narrow street outside his relatives' home in Miami on Saturday, some weeping but most shouting with indignation following the raid.

A team of about 25 armed officers broke down the door of the home of the boy's uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, shortly after 0500 local time (0900 GMT) and re-emerged seconds later with the crying boy wrapped in a blanket.

'Chilling picture'

Texas Governor George W Bush condemned the Justice Department's decision to remove the child by force.

"The chilling picture of a little boy being removed from his home at gunpoint defies the values of America," he said.

Federal officers took Elian from the home of his Miami relatives

US Vice President Al Gore distanced himself from the operation, saying the matter should have been handled differently.

But President Bill Clinton said it was "the right thing to do."

Cuba urges calm

The Cuban Government urged people to "maintain calm and avoid public displays".

"Any other conduct could negatively affect the situation," an official statement said.

Speaking at the rally, Elian's grandparents emotionally thanked not only the Cuban people for supporting them, but also the people and government of the United States.

Elian's grandmother told the crowd she had been able to speak to her grandson freely on the phone for the first time in five months and that he once again appeared to be the boy she had known before his departure from the island.

Legal battle

Ms Reno meanwhile said that Elian would remain in the US in accordance with an appeal court injunction against the boy being taken to Cuba.

The court has yet to rule on an appeal filed by the boy's Miami family.