A demonstration in support of the Krome hunger strikers became heated Tuesday when about 50 people tried to march to the detention center's gate, chanting and hurling insults at uniformed immigration officers who blocked their path.

Aside from the shouting, demonstration leaders maintained order, moving the protesters aside to allow vehicles to pass through on the narrow road leading to the camp from Krome Avenue.

The standoff between protesters and the impassive Immigration and Naturalization Service officers, the first direct confrontation during the 34-day hunger strike, ended after about 45 minutes. Organizers led the group back to the tent on the shoulder of Krome Avenue where the four strikers are carrying out a fast on behalf of their sons, all ex-convicts detained by the INS.

As the demonstration was taking place at midday, one of the hunger strikers quietly rejoined the vigil after spending the previous two nights at Kendall Medical Center. Striker Marta Berros, who had collapsed and lost consciousness at the tent Sunday, was fed intravenously, but declined to eat while hospitalized.

INS officials who emerged from behind a locked gate to briefly address reporters and demonstration leaders urged patience, saying Florida District Director Robert Wallis and a group of agency officials are ``very methodically'' reviewing the files of about 200 long-term detainees -- including the hunger strikers' sons -- for possible release.

``Yes, we are moving slowly,'' INS spokeswoman Maria Elena Garcia said. ``We are going case by case. Mr. Wallis will not free people with criminal records without a thorough review. The community's safety is our first concern.''

Although hunger strikers and their supporters say INS officials had promised them a response first by Friday, then by Monday, Garcia said there was ``no timetable'' on when decisions would be issued.

The statement angered demonstrators, many of them also with sons and daughters in similar circumstances, who were demanding immediate answers.

``Freedom today! Today, today, today!'' they chanted.

One hunger striker, Eladio Alfonso, said he believes INS officials are withholding a decision on the foursome's sons to ``punish'' them.

``That was the idea behind today's demonstration,'' said Alfonso, who like the other strikers was too weak Tuesday to get up from his cot. ``Mr. Wallis has our sons' files since last week. He should have made a decision by now. He is dragging it out.''

The central issue in the strike is INS' detention of nearly 4,000 ex-convicts, more than half of them from Cuba, who like the fasting parents' sons have finished serving prison sentences.

A 1996 law requires the detention and deportation of noncitizens with criminal records. Because Cuba and other countries that lack diplomatic relations with the United States will not take their citizens back, however, these so-called long-termers face what amounts to indefinite INS detention.

The INS has insisted that the law leaves it little latitude to release those who can't be deported, but lawyers and advocates for immigrants say the agency has largely ignored provisions that allow it to release those deemed not a threat to society.

``We're very disappointed the INS has not seen fit to establish a review process,'' said Cheryl Little, a Miami immigration advocate who is representing the parents, in a brief address at the start of Tuesday's protest. ``We call on Robert Wallis to do what he's obligated to do.''

Her words were echoed by Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Wenski. His superior, Archbishop John Clement Favalora, last week wrote to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno asking for a prompt review of long-term detainees' cases.

``We are once again asking the Department of Justice to free these individuals through a process that is fair and quick,'' Wenski told the demonstrators Tuesday.

Carrying banners and placards, and sporting green bands around their wrists for hope, the protesters then marched slowly down the detention center's access road toward Krome's front gate while the hunger strikers remained in their cots. Among the marchers were Nicaraguan activists carrying their country's flag.

At a parking area halfway to the gate, INS officers who drove up in vans drew shut a chain-link gate and locked it with a pair of handcuffs before someone arrived with a lock. The demonstrators halted at the gate, where some shouted questions, speeches and occasional insults at the officers, who did not respond and made no attempt to break up the demonstration.

One silent protester held up his wrists, tied together with rope.