U.S. EMBASSY IN PANAMA HIT TO PROTEST INVASION

PANAMA CITY, Panama - Black-clad demonstrators pelted the U.S. Embassy with
rocks and bags of paint yesterday in an angry protest to mark the 10th
anniversary of a U.S. invasion that overthrew Panama's last military dictator.

"Out, Out with the Gringos," some of the 2,000 demonstrators chanted as
they threw rocks and red and blue paint and an outside embassy wall.
"Gringos! Assassins!" some screamed.

The so-called Black March, with participants dressed in black to symbolize
mourning, has been held annually since American troops invaded Panama to
arrest Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega on drug charges.

Police did not interfere, there was no violence and no one was arrested.

Panamanians remain bitter about the invasion, but they also blame Noriega
for the attack, which left hundreds of Panamanians dead.

On Sunday, a crowd gathered in front of the headquarters of Noriega's
political party, where they burned him in effigy.

"MAN (Manuel Antonio Noriega), may God forgive you," read a poster at the
rally.

"The events of Dec. 20 were a tragic consequence of the irresponsibility
and lack of real patriotic sentiment on the part of Noriega's
dictatorship," the newspaper El Panama America wrote in an editorial
yesterday.

More than U.S. 25,000 troops participated in the 1989 invasion to drive out
Noriega. Now, only a handful of U.S. troops remain in Panama, and their
century-old presence must end by Dec. 31 under 1977 treaties that surrender
the Panama Canal and the U.S. military bases on its banks.

Noriega, a CIA collaborator, took control of the army after Panamanian
strongman Gen. Omar Torrijos died in a suspicious plane crash in 1981. He
allegedly rigged 1984 elections in favor of a party sympathetic to the
military, then annulled elections in which the party was defeated in 1989.

At least 400 Panamanians died in the invasion. Human rights groups give
estimates that run into the thousands. About 20 American soldiers also died.