SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CNN) -- Protesters remained camped on U.S.
                  Navy land Sunday, as members of Puerto Rico's independence party
                  protested U.S. war games that killed a civilian and injured four other
                  people on the island of Vieques.

                  Navy officials have said the site occupied by the protesters is filled with
                  unexploded live ordnance that poses a danger to them.

                  Vieques' 9,300 residents say war games' bombing harms the environment,
                  destroys marine life, stunts economic development and may be linked to an
                  above-normal cancer rate. They also worry about the danger presented by
                  the bombs themselves.

                  Controversy over the war games has created a rare political unity on the
                  Caribbean island, where the debate on whether Puerto Rico should seek
                  U.S. statehood, seek independence or maintain its U.S. commonwealth
                  status usually keeps the three main political parties from agreeing on issues.

                  The protesters have enjoyed wide community support, with fishermen
                  ferrying out supplies donated by local residents.

                  On the firing line

                  Members of the Puerto Rican Independence Party trespassed on the Navy
                  property on Vieques Saturday.

                  Amid cheering crowds, they joined a band of protesters who have camped
                  at the site since civilian security guard David Sanes Rodriguez was killed by
                  an errant bomb during war games on April 19.

                  "We are going right into the middle of the firing line," said party President
                  Ruben Berrios. "They only have two choices: stop bombing or arrest us."

                  Residents have long opposed the Navy's presence on the 33,000-acre
                  island of Vieques off Puerto Rico's east coast. On Vieques, the Navy runs
                  the North Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility, one of the largest live
                  weapons training grounds in the world.

                  "Sanes Rodriguez's death shows how much danger Vieques residents are in
                  each day," said Robert Rabin of the Committee for the Development of
                  Vieques, an economic development and environmental group that opposes
                  the military presence.

                  Seeking alternatives to bombing

                  Gov. Pedro Rossello of the ruling pro-statehood New Progressive Party has
                  called for a permanent halt to live weapons training.

                  "There must be a viable alternative to the shelling, bombing and strafing of
                  populated areas," he said in an April 20 letter to President Bill Clinton.

                  And Anibal Acevedo Vila, president of the pro-commonwealth Popular
                  Democratic Party, has written to House Speaker Dennis Hastert urging a
                  Congressional investigation.

                  The Navy is still looking into the accident, in which two Marine F/A-18
                  Hornet jets accidentally bombed an observation point, killing Sanes
                  Rodriguez and injuring three other civilian workers and a Navy officer.

                  Navy apologizes, but practice may continue

                  The Navy apologized and said it would indefinitely halt military maneuvers
                  using live ammunition. But Navy officials said the Vieques target range was
                  essential to national defense because it is a unique location where planes and
                  ships can bomb, and troops can be deployed.

                  Several lawmakers have called for an end to Navy bombing in Vieques or
                  have called for hearings on the matter.

                  Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a letter to Navy
                  Secretary Richard Danzig, "The U.S. Navy cannot, and should not, force the
                  people of Puerto Rico to live in fear for their lives by continuing to use their
                  island for target practice."

                  Rossello met with Danzig on Friday but little concrete seems to have come
                  from the meeting.

                  "There was no agreement. We didn't even agree to agree. But I felt the
                  secretary was sincere and wanted an opening to look for alternatives,"
                  Rossello said.

                                    Reuters contributed to this report.