About 50 Miami police officers donned riot gear on Saturday night (10/9) to quell demonstrators at a concert by Cuban dance band Los Van Van [ tickets ]. According to local news reports, police said nearly 4,000 people gathered outside Miami Arena to protest the first-ever Miami appearance by the band, which some right-wing Cuban exiles have dubbed President Fidel Castro's "official band."

Protestors threw eggs, rocks and plastic soft drink bottles at concert-goers as they exited the arena. By the time police restored order, according to the Miami Herald, four demonstrators had been arrested for disorderly conduct, one for battery of a police officer and one for criminal mischief. A journalist was reportedly hit with a rock and was treated for injuries at the scene.

Many of the protesters trekked to the arena from Miami's James L. Knight Center after viewing ''Libertad,'' an anti-Castro documentary film presented by a Bay of Pigs veterans group. Los Van Van had been scheduled to play at the Knight Center, but venue management cancelled the show under pressure from city officials and anti-Castro activists who also objected to the Miami Arena show.

Anti-Castro hard-liners considered the band's appearance to be the equivalent of communist propaganda. The band, which formed in 1969, is said to be loyal to Castro, but some of the its lyrics can be interpreted as critical of Cuban policy.

Concert promoter Debbie Ohanian said that Los Van Van will perform again at Miami Arena in December.

''People don't want to be pushed around anymore,'' Ohanian told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. ''I mean no disrespect to Cubans who lost everything and have suffered in exile, but I don't really think that this band has anything to do with it.''

The Miami show was the last of a 26-city U.S. tour which has drawn critical raves at most stops along the way. ''Whatever the mood outside, those inside were completely united by the music,'' Herald reviewer Jordan Levin wrote following the Miami performance, which was the only one to draw protests.