BY ALFONSO CHARDY

 In a massive display of indignation, Cuban Americans on Tuesday protested the
 forced removal of Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives by shutting down large
 portions of the county, including Little Havana, Hialeah, Sweetwater and parts of
 west and south Miami-Dade.

 In Miami, businesses were shut down on block after block along Southwest
 Eighth Street -- Calle Ocho. In Hialeah, the sidewalks of the main commercial
 thoroughfare -- West 49th Street -- filled with demonstrators waving banners
 and Cuban flags. In Sweetwater, the stoppage turned the city into a virtual ghost
 town, with nearly all businesses shuttered.

 More than 115,000 Miami-Dade public school students -- about one in three --
 and about 4,000 teachers were absent countywide, most apparently honoring
 the strike. Thousands of students were left without transportation when private
 school bus operators joined the strike. Most public school drivers were on the job.

 County bus service and Metrorail operated normally, Miami International Airport
 suffered no disruptions, and business went on as usual in many neighborhoods
 where Cuban Americans are not the dominant ethnic group.

 But in the areas affected, crowds gathered in the streets and near landmarks
 -- including the Freedom Tower downtown. Large groups continued to
 demonstrate late into the night.

 Late Tuesday, a crowd of some 300 black-clad protesters -- many wearing tape
 over their mouths -- gathered in Miami Beach and walked to the Holocaust
 Memorial. About 200 marchers in Sweetwater were escorted by police. Large
 demonstrations of about 1,000 each were also under way along West 49th Street
 in Hialeah and Southwest 40th Street and 87th Avenue. Even in West Palm Beach,
 about 1,200 protesters peacefully rallied.

 Cuban-American sports figures also observed the stoppage, here and elsewhere.

 At Pro Player Stadium, every Cuban American member of the Florida Marlins
 -- including starting third baseman Mike Lowell and pitchers Alex Fernandez
 and Vladimir Nuñez -- sat out the game against the San Francisco Giants. Three
 Giants players also skipped the game, including pitcher and former Marlin Livan
 Hernandez, and catcher Bobby Estalella, who went to high school in Cooper City.

 Among the others around the country who were absent: Tampa Bay's Jose
 Canseco, the Mets' Rey Ordoñez and third base coach Cookie Rojas; and the
 Yankees' Orlando ''El Duque'' Hernandez.

 The strike was called by the leaders of 21 Cuban exile organizations, who said it
 would send a message of pain to the federal government and the nation about
 Elian's seizure. They sought to turn Miami into a ''dead city.''

 ''We are staying away from work as a way to express our outrage, not only over
 Elian but also against what we see as a major change in U.S. policy -- one that
 indicates an improvement in relations with Fidel Castro,'' said Carlos Rodriguez
 Nuñez, a retired paint store owner who was one of the few pedestrians on Calle
 Ocho near the Bay of Pigs monument.

 AIRPORT OPEN

 Meanwhile, the county's two major economic engines -- Miami International
 Airport and the Port of Miami-Dade -- remained open. While the airport operated
 normally, the port slowed down as hundreds of truck drivers stayed home.

 County transit buses and Metrorail operated regularly, but carried fewer
 passengers than usual.

 One of 10 Miami-Dade County employees stayed home but county officials
 reported no disruptions in government services, despite the absence of 2,581
 employees out of a full time work force of 24,569.

 Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas was on the job, but did not come into the office
 to show support.

 Most county commissioners also steered clear of County Hall, or at least the
 commission chambers, forcing the cancellation of Tuesday's regular meeting.

 In Miami, Mayor Joe Carollo was on the job, saying he had to monitor the police
 because of widespread reports of mistreatment of demonstrators. The mayor, who
 is angry with Police Chief William O'Brien over his handling of Saturday's Elian
 raid and the protests, said he finds the reports credible.

 Though emergency services were exempt, some hospitals delayed routine
 procedures. The University of Miami Hospital system rescheduled elective
 surgeries for later in the week, said Tom Cunningham, associate administrator.

 By and large, most local governments and businesses accommodated thousands
 of Cuban American employees who chose to stay away from work.

 SOME INCIDENTS

 The strike was not without incident, however.

 Exile leaders told people to stay home, but thousands poured out onto the
 streets. A few businesses closed out of fear after receiving threats of bombs or
 boycotts.

 At least two Hialeah businesses -- Denny's and Kmart on West 49th Street --
 received bomb threats for staying open. Denny's closed after the second threat.
 Kmart remained open, but had police sweep the store. Late Monday, someone
 shot out the windows at the Laroye Family Services in Little Havana -- a business
 that arranges exile trips to Cuba and ships packages to the island.

 But there was little evidence of any change in neighborhoods that are
 predominantly non-Hispanic. At lunch time, the only major evidence of a strike
 along Ocean Drive in South Beach was the closure of Larios on the Beach, the
 restaurant owned by Cuban American singer Gloria Estefan.

 However, the strike upset many non-Cubans.

 In South Miami, resident Potter Walker, interviewed at the city's post office, said
 Cuban Americans who closed their businesses were being ''ungrateful to our
 government by not working today.''

 In Opa-locka, John T. Cook, 47, an investment banker and city native, also voiced
 complaints.

 ''The exile Cuban community fled Cuba for democracy and what they turn around
 and do is use this against everybody who doesn't favor their position,'' Cook said.
 ''What they are using Elian for is a vehicle to vent their anger toward Castro. This
 is gone far beyond a little boy and his father.''

 LITTLE HAVANA

 One of the biggest responses came in Little Havana, where businesses were
 solidly shuttered in a wide swath from the Miami River west to the Palmetto
 Expressway, north to Northwest 36th Street and south to Coral Way.

 Versailles on Southwest Eighth Street near 37th Avenue, usually a bustling place
 where hundreds of exiles gather every day to gossip over Cuban coffee and food,
 was closed and the streets around it empty.

 Posters and signs on restaurant doors vividly explained why the landmark
 restaurant complied with the strike call.

 One poster featured the now famous picture showing a federal agent pointing a
 weapon at Elian and Donato Dalrymple, one of two fishermen who rescued the
 boy. But the face of President Clinton had been superimposed over the face of the
 agent holding the gun and the face of another agent in the background had been
 replaced by that of Fidel Castro.

 In Westchester, more than 200 demonstrators gathered at Bird Road and
 Southwest 87th Avenue -- site of daily protests since Elian was seized.

 The demonstrators, some with fists raised in anger, carried the seizure
 photograph on their cars and in their hands, displayed signs that read ''Elian We
 Pray for You'' and waved flags. Some demonstrators were non-Cuban. Democracy
 Movement leaders Norman del Valle and Ramon Saul Sanchez joined the crowd.

 Some protests were purely individual in nature.

 Robert Fojo, 20, a sophomore at the University of Miami, went to morning classes
 but decided not to show up at his job at the school's Cuban Heritage collection at
 the library because he could not support Elian's seizure.

 ''I think it's a disgrace,'' Fojo said.

 Herald staff writers Ana Acle, Tyler Bridges, Paul Brinkley-Rogers, Leila Cobo,
 Elaine de Valle, Tom Dubocq, Tere Figueras, Don Finefrock, Dan Grech, Sonji
 Jacobs, Marika Lynch, Diana Marrero, Sandra Marquez Garcia, Ajowa Nzinga
 Ifateyo, Sara Olkon, Ina Paiva Cordle, Mike Phillips, Karl Ross, Hannah
 Sampson, Fabiola Santiago, Charles Savage, Clark Spencer, Annie Vazquez,
 Jack Wheat and Peter Whoriskey contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald