A Rough Liberty for Sailors and Marines : Portugal: Police in Lisbon are accused of clubbing and kicking U.S. and British servicemen.

WASHINGTON —  At least 142 Americans were injured as Portuguese police clubbed, kicked and rounded up about 400 U.S. sailors and Marines and British sailors in a late-night melee in Lisbon, U.S. military and diplomatic sources said Thursday.

The violence grew out of a drunken brawl that began with four U.S. sailors in Lisbon’s red-light district Wednesday night, attracted scores of others and ended with the arrests of 175 U.S. sailors and Marines, the Navy said.

The imbroglio became so violent and confused that some U.S. military officers who showed identification cards and offered to intercede were beaten by police, Navy sources said. Other servicemen were dragged indiscriminately out of phone booths, taxis, bars and restaurants.

Defense officials said the brawl and the ensuing police crackdown represented the largest and most violent incident involving U.S. service personnel abroad in recent memory.

The Navy said 142 servicemen were treated for injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to concussions and kidney damage that apparently resulted from the police officers’ efforts to quell the disturbance.

A total of 40 U.S. sailors and Marines received medical care for what were considered “major injuries.” The two most seriously hurt were listed Wednesday night in “serious condition,” according to the Navy. By Thursday morning, their condition had been upgraded to good.

All those detained after the melee had been released and returned to their ships by Thursday morning, said Navy spokesman Lt. Frank Thorp.

Portuguese authorities said several Lisbon police were injured in the turmoil.

The U.S. Embassy in Lisbon had not lodged a diplomatic protest on Thursday, and a knowledgeable State Department official said no protest was planned.

The incident came just 10 days before defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are to gather in Lisbon to discuss nuclear modernization.

It also came at a sensitive point in U.S.-Portuguese relations, as Lisbon and Washington prepare to open negotiations assuring that U.S. forces will have access to Portugal’s Lajes Air Base on the Azores in the mid-Atlantic.

State Department analysts said that in contrast to similar parleys in neighboring Spain, the forthcoming Portuguese base negotiations are not expected to be clouded by anti-American sentiment. But Portugal has demanded increased U.S. aid in exchange for continued access to the base.

Describing what he called “a very confused situation,” Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said “there were clearly people beaten in this incident by sticks or clubs or whatever police were using.”

The brawl drew in sailors and Marines deployed aboard three amphibious warships--the assault ship Nassau, transport dock Shreveport and tank landing ship Barnstable County, Navy officials said. The ships left their home port of Norfolk, Va., in late May and are expected to return within weeks to the United States.

The British aircraft carrier Ark Royal was also in Lisbon on a good-will visit, and several British sailors were caught in what U.S. Navy officials described as an indiscriminate dragnet by Portuguese police.

Shore leave for the 4,356 U.S. sailors and Marines based on the three ships was suspended.

Navy sources said the turmoil grew larger as servicemen came to the aid of other sailors. Portuguese civilian authorities responded by sending in additional police officers, who proceeded to round up U.S. and British servicemen indiscriminately, Navy sources said.

In some instances, Navy personnel said they were ordered to lie on the ground with their legs spread and were beaten by sticks and clubs.