SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Activists said Sunday they will offer free
                  workshops in civil disobedience to Puerto Ricans who want to join
                  escalating protests at the U.S. Navy's bombing range on the island of
                  Vieques.

                  The first classes will take place Wednesday and Friday in San Juan, the
                  group "All of Puerto Rico with Vieques" said in a written statement.

                  Participants will learn how to plan and launch a protest, as well as the legal
                  aspects of being arrested, the group said. The classes will be held at the
                  Puerto Rico Bar Association headquarters, the University of Puerto Rico
                  and a cultural center.

                  Since April, several groups of protesters have occupied the bombing range
                  on the outlying island of Vieques to thwart further exercises and press the
                  Puerto Rican government's demand that the Navy abandon the training
                  ground.

                  On Saturday, Christian groups from the main island began building their own
                  camp, complete with a makeshift chapel. The island's Episcopalian, United
                  Methodist and Roman Catholic bishops have urged their church members to
                  join the protest.

                  Opposition to the Navy's presence flared April 19, when a Marine Corps jet
                  dropped a bomb off target and killed a civilian security guard working in the
                  training ground.

                  An investigation by the Puerto Rican government documented other close
                  calls, fueling fears that another accident could harm residents in the island's
                  main town of 9,400 people.

                  The Navy says Vieques is the only training ground big enough and remote
                  enough for its Atlantic Fleet to stage full-scale war simulations. Since war
                  exercises were halted after the security guard's death, Navy ships have put
                  out to sea without needed training, commanders have complained.

                  President Clinton appointed a panel to investigate the dispute and is
                  expected to make a decision on the training ground in the next few weeks.