U.S.

Al Sharpton Gets Sprung

August 17, 2001 / 10:34 AM EDT / AP

The Rev. Al Sharpton walked out of a federal prison Friday to the beat of a Latin band, a gospel choir and several hundred supporters waving Puerto Rican flags and chanting "free at last."

Sharpton hugged his wife, Kathy, and made his way through the horde of reporters and television cameras jockeying to capture the end of his 90-day sentence.

"We'll come again, if we have to, to stop the bombing," said Sharpton, convicted of trespassing on U.S. Navy property while protesting bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. "We went in this jail struggling and we're going to come out struggling."

Sharpton, bearded and thinner, lost 30 pounds during a 43-day hunger strike staged to pressure the government into end the exercises. President Bush has said he will withdraw the Navy from Vieques in 2003, but opponents want it to leave now.

Sharpton was imprisoned along with some high-profile partners. Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, was sentenced to 30 days in prison for trespassing on Navy lands, as was labor leader Dennis Rivera. Sharpton's sentence was longer because he had a prior civil disobedience offense on his record.

Sharpton, standing on an elevated podium with a flag of Vieques draped across his shoulders, led the crowd in his trademark "no justice, no peace," chant. He also thanked his fellow protesters and supporters, some of whom spent nights outside the prison.