In a chaotic scene Friday, ousted President Manuel Zelaya briefly set foot on Honduran soil for the first time since his June ouster - and posed for photographers along an entry post sign declaring "Welcome to Honduras."

    Zelaya was wearing his trademark cowboy hat for his first step onto Honduran soil, surrounded by dozens of supporters and a crush of journalists.

    All that had separated him from Honduras was a knee-high chain stretched along the Nicaraguan border. So he stepped over the line just before 5 p.m. East Coast time. A crowd followed.

    "For the impoverished of the world, democracy is a weapon, an instrument to fight for justice," Zelaya said. "Democracy is what can make or break a king, not an army."

    He stayed only about 15 minutes on his native soil, before leading the crowd back across the border into safe haven in Nicaragua.

    The interim Honduran government had vowed to arrest Zelaya, and the army whose officers ousted him in his pajamas on June 28 had arrayed dozens of semi-trailers along the road to Las Manos, effectively blocking the arrival of hundreds of more supporters.

    So instead of reclaiming the presidency, he spoke of the importance of defending democracy near the border immigration office.

    It was not immediately clear whether Honduran forces had tried to arrest him.

    In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton labeled the incursion "reckless." It would not help restore democratic and constitutional order in Honduras, she added.

    Since arriving earlier in the day at the border in a caravan of supporters, Zelaya spent much of the time with a cellphone clamped to his ear - surrounded by reporters trying to shadow his every move.

    At one point, anxiety swept through the crowd of supporters fed by a rumor a sharpshooter was atop a cellphone tower inside Honduras. Someone could be seen up there, but he was too far away to tell whether he was armed.

    After his 15-minute foray, Zelaya then climbed into a white Jeep whose rear spare tire has a Tweety Bird cartoon cover, and waited. He vowed to wait on the border until his wife and daughter joined him.

    Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa that people have been ordered off the streets along the Nicaraguan border.

    Thousands of Hondurans flocked to the remote border between Honduras and Nicaragua to support Zelaya's bid.

    Soldiers and police fired tear gas at the crowd near the El Paraiso crossing as a noon curfew went into effect - just minutes after it was announced in a national broadcast, AP said.

    Witnesses told local Radio Globo that police also fired live ammunition at the crowd and that there were an unspecified number of injuries. Police spokesman Daniel Molina confirmed tear gas was fired but said he had no word of injuries, the Associated Press said.

    Earlier Friday Zelaya was reported to have spoken with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but there was no information about their conversation.

    Thursday, Zelaya blamed Honduras' political elite for his ouster, saying they were scared of his embrace of the "southern socialism" espoused by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

    "Why is it dangerous to have leftist thoughts if the left has always been the precursor of reforms to the status quo?" he said. "[Some] Hondurans are blind when it comes to interpreting the world they live in, and they are scared of transformation and change. They are scared of losing privileges that perhaps they know they don't deserve."

    The interim government of Roberto Micheletti has said Zelaya will be arrested on sight. Zelaya is facing four charges: abuse of power, treason, usurping his duties and attempts against the form of government. The attorney general's office has also said it is pursuing charges of corruption and misuse of funds.

    "I am returning precisely because justice is on my side," said Zelaya, wearing his trademark cowboy hat and a black vest. "I am not talking about the justice of Micheletti, a coup leader - that's a different kind of justice that does not recognize the will of the people and democracy."

    Zelaya arrived in the northern Nicaraguan town of Estelí late Thursday, behind the wheel of a white jeep. He arrived with a caravan of well-wishers and a large contingent of local and international journalists.

    Earlier, Zelaya had suggested he would cross one of Honduras' land borders protected only by a phalanx of his supporters - and said he would go in peace and hoped to be received the same way.

    Zelaya was ousted nearly four weeks ago as he pursued a national referendum aimed at creating a constitutional assembly to redraft the Honduran constitution. With just six months left in his term of office, the Honduran congress and others feared the referendum was a grab for power. The supreme court declared the move illegal and ordered his detention. The army moved in on June 28, arresting him at home and then sending him into exile.

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