Five months of pent-up passion spilled over Saturday into a bitter daylong series of seesaw clashes in the streets of Little Havana between hundreds of protesters and nearly as many police in full riot gear.

Demonstrators, outraged at the seizure of Elian Gonzalez by a gun-toting federal SWAT team, shouted, wept, waved flags and signs and -- in isolated angrier outbreaks -- blocked traffic, threw rocks, overturned bus benches and torched tires and trash bins. Police met them fast and forcefully -- some say too forcefully -- pumping tear gas canisters into crowds and hauling off dozens in handcuffs.

Lt. William Schwartz, Miami Police spokesman, is attacked outside the house of the Miami relatives.

At least 268 people, including a man charged with attempted murder for attacking three officers with a baseball bat, had been arrested by 10 p.m. Scattered skirmishes were still breaking out into the night but authorities hoped the worst had passed.

''Clinton, Miami is burning!'' protesters chanted around a bonfire built of old tires, a trash bin load of cardboard boxes and a shredded Florida lottery billboard at Flagler Street and Northwest 27th Avenue, an intersection blocks from the home where Elian was snatched before dawn.

But Miami, despite superheated emotions in the streets, was not on fire.

That street blaze and at least 128 others were doused by firefighters. The shifting protests were confined to a dozen or so blocks in Little Havana. There were no reports of serious damage and a few miles to the east, the Miami Heat won an undisturbed playoff opener at AmericanAirlines Arena. Reported injuries, topping 50, were mostly cuts and bruises.

''These are sporadic acts, isolated events, but they are ugly pictures to see,'' said Miami City Manager Donald Warshaw. ''This is not a riot.''

Late Saturday, the biggest protest had moved to Hialeah, where a bumper-to-bumper caravan of horn-honking, flag-waving drivers jammed 49th Street, the city's main thoroughfare. The mostly teenage crowd slowed traffic for dozens of blocks with few police officers in sight.

A man is overcome with emotion Saturday morning after Elian Gonzalez is whisked away by SWAT agents

But Hialeah Police, supervised by Chief Rolando Bolaúos, deployed a force of officers with riot gear into the area after 11 p.m.

PRAYER VIGIL

Political and community leaders -- Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Spanish-language radio hosts and others -- took to the airwaves during the day appealing for calm. Penelas said he planned to organize a large-scale ceremony, possibly a prayer vigil.

''I've asked people to refrain from this kind of behavior,'' he said. ''There is a right way to protest and a wrong way.''

''Right now,'' Diaz-Balart said, ''the worst thing we can do is give our enemies the gasoline to set us on fire.''

At nightfall, tempers seemed to have cooled but the streets remained tense enough that police warned journalists that they were at risk outside the Gonzalez home, prompted by a throng that knocked down the CNN tent. Exile organizers and CNN staffers calmed the crowd and a platoon of police, thumping their batons against their plastic shields, marched in. Within an hour, the strange village of satellite trucks dubbed Camp Elian had folded.

For the most part, the community paid heed but at Ground Zero -- Flagler Street stretching several dozen blocks through a working-class stronghold of Elian supporters -- the scene was chaotic. For much of the day, the air smelled of a stinging mix of tear gas and trash bin fire smoke. At noon, the peak of problems, protests popped up as fast as police broke them up.

CUFFED PROTESTERS

Sweeping the streets in ranks sometimes 10 across, police gruffly cuffed protesters. Dozens of other protesters and bystanders stumbled about, eyes red and burning. After one of the numerous gassings, a crowd fled to a Walgreens drug store, tearing water, soda, anything from the shelves for relief.

''The first time I got gassed I almost got hit by a car,'' said Carmen Cantu. ''It's scary. I'm only 12. They arrested a little girl right before my eyes.''

Officers also were roughed up in at least two clashes and one cruiser's window was smashed. In the most violent confrontation reported, a man was arrested on charges that included attempted murder after he allegedly attacked three officers with a metal baseball bat. Daniel Perez, 29, of 10730 SW 28th St., drove his light blue Toyota through a police barricade at Flagler and West 35th Avenue, nearly running over two officers, according to a police report.

Perez stopped the car, grabbed a bat and started hitting officers, the report said. Three officers were injured, two with back pain and another with a shoulder injury, said Miami Police Lt. William Schwartz. The officers were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where they were in stable condition, Schwartz said.

PUSHED TOO FAR

One woman said police pushed a tense crowd too far.

''They are provoking us,'' said Marta Suarez of Miami. ''Because people are on the sidewalk chanting libertad there is no reason to arrest them. If the police keep acting like this it will get worse. People don't want violence but police are getting violent.''

Schwartz, doing an interview outside the Gonzalez home, also was pushed, pummeled and spit on by protesters before officers and others in the crowd came to his aid.

''I was surprised and angry, and ultimately gratified that people were trying to help me,'' Schwartz said.

The first protests began within an hour of Elian's removal. The crowd around the relatives' home, less than 50 when the lightning raid took place, swelled to hundreds. Others poured into nearby streets.

Isis Cardoso rushed from her Miami Beach home to Flagler and 27th Avenue, also known as Unity Boulevard, after her son called her at 5:30 a.m. She thought it was time to send a message.

''As long as we can't fight in our own homeland, all we can do is fight on the streets of Miami,'' said Cardoso, wearing a black band around her arm. She listened to La Poderosa radio station, but ignored the urges to stay home.

''I had it on this morning but I finally turned it off because they were calling on people for calma, calma (calm), but today is not a day for calm. Today is a day for action.''

AREA SWARMED

By 10 a.m., protesters were swarming Little Havana. Most people simply stood on sidewalks, waving flags or signs. Crowds, arms linked, spilled onto the Dolphin Expressway, temporarily blocking traffic before Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrived.

The mood among protesters was defiant -- toward police but more toward the U.S. government that they felt had betrayed them again.

Juan Contijoch, holding his 2-year-old daughter Yara and waving an American flag smeared with a black paint swastika, stood in the smoke of a Flagler Street trash bin fire and expressed what seemed the prevailing view:

''This is the beginning of the end of this free society. Little by little, they are taking away our rights. Now is the time for us to take the streets.''

''We are going to paralyze Miami,'' vowed Irma Garcia.

About 11:20 a.m., with bonfires burning on a half-dozen street corners and problems spreading, police regrouped. Patrols withdrew and returned in increased force and riot gear -- batons, plastic shields, gas masks.

The city of Miami had about 700 of its 1,127 officers on the street. Miami's officers were reinforced by the Miami-Dade Police Department with 650 county officers in field units and a SWAT team from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FHP troopers patrolled the perimeter and Miami Beach officers assisted by providing security at the Heat game.

MANY CHARGED

About noon, officers, marching in near-military formation, started sweeping west to reclaim Flagler, arresting protesters and others on charges that included disorderly conduct and inciting a riot. At least five journalists were also arrested.

Many protesters complained that the police used excessive force. Erika Huerta said a tear gas canister fell at her feet, even though she was peacefully protesting.

''There has been rock-throwing,'' she said, ''but at that moment, we were just walking and saying, 'Justice for Elian.' ''

An old man was handcuffed and dragged on his knees. Officers knocked down and handcuffed a teenage girl. Others saw officers kicking and punching protesters.

By afternoon, with the police force swelling, tempers seemed cooler. Armando Perez helped officers remove a concrete bus bench from the street as city maintenance crews began clearing debris.

''We don't have anything against the police,'' he said. ''If they would take off their helmets and put away their batons we would feel better about them.''

About 8 p.m., neary 300 people gathered at Southwest 17th Avenue and First Street and and burned dozens of tires. Police broke it up in 30 minutes.

''This is crazy. The police are crazy. They're kicking people and hurting people,'' said Yvette Gomez, 30.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Police defended the tactics, saying the swift arrests and strong force snuffed potential problems.

''I think they've done an excellent job in very trying conditions,'' said Miami Police Chief William O'Brien. ''They've arrested a whole group of troublemakers and there is no significant property damage.''

Herald staff writers Charles Rabin, Ana Acle, Eunice Ponce, Charles Savage, Mireidy Fernandez and Marika Lynch contributed to this report.