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Crowd Continues Demonstrations Around Elian Gonzalez' Florida Home

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

LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: And you have been seeing the disruption from the live pictures we've been showing you within the past 30 minutes from around the home, the temporary home where Elian Gonzalez staying down in Miami. You see the Cuban, the American flags.

And Susan Candiotti's.

Susan, what's the latest?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This crowd is very, very calm indeed. Certainly, there are demonstrators out here, according to police, about 60 in all, who when word got out that at least for now, the attorneys representing the Florida relatives of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez and government lawyers are not talking anymore until the government calls the lawyers back to get an answer about where the situation stands. Once these people heard that, they jumped the police barricades and formed what they like to call sort of a practice human chain around the house. They are standing arm and arm, and they are yelling things like, "Freedom," "Freedom for Cuba," and "Elian, don't go, Elian, don't go."

This crowd is a very small one. I'd like to pan off just a little bit to show a different camera position, to show you that the activity that you see centered around the house, all these people used to be standing down, a couple of houses down from the home where Elian has been living. And it's been a very peaceful crowd. They're here on a daily basis. And from time to time, they yell out things over megaphones, shouting words of support to the youngster. From time to time, when he has come out to play, they will also start to cheer, cheer on his behalf.

So they've come outside to talk just a little bit about what's going on, to voice their support for the youngster so that he does not go back to Cuba. They don't want him to be reunited with father. They believe that the father is not speaking freely when he says he want to take his boy back with him to Cuba.

We want to stress here that no decision has been made in this case. Both sides are not talking at the moment. But then the government will recall the attorneys representing the Florida relatives to discuss with them what will happen next. They have told this family time and again that this transfer, in the government's opinion, must take place when and if the father comes to the United States. And the government has said they want this to happen in the best way possible for this child. They are talking about a psychological examination of the situation in hearing from consultants how to best carry this transfer of custody out.

But again, we stress that no discussion has been made about any of this. The two sides are not talking for now, but will be getting back together again at the end of this day.

Now the police have decided to allow these supporters of the boy who want him to stay in the United States to, as they put it, blow off a little steam here. They have allowed them to break down the police barricades and, in effect, chant for a while in front of the cameras. How long will this go on? The police say they're not sure. They're watching to see how this will play out. In fact, they say the strong Florida sun may work in their favor. The people may become fatigued and eventually just drift back behind police barricades again. They say there are no hard, fast rules for controlling demonstrators in this particular case. They call it more of an art form, and they are going to decide as things go along about how they will handle the situation, but again, it's a relatively small crowd here, no larger than the group that normally is here each and every day that the boy has been in the United States, at least as of late -- Lou.

WATERS: All right, Susan Candiotti, around the noisy, temporary home of Elian Gonzalez in Miami today. We'll continue to follow that story.

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