You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <protectedtitles ptstart="2009-07-21T12:48:05Z" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <protectedtitles>
      <pt ns="2" title="Участник:Wikiadmin" timestamp="2010-09-15T10:57:52Z" level="sysop" />
      <pt ns="14" title="Категория:Справка" timestamp="2009-10-27T12:46:35Z" level="sysop" />
      <pt ns="0" title="Калинкина Ирэна Владимировна" timestamp="2009-10-15T12:38:47Z" level="IPP" />
      <pt ns="0" title="Борисова Мария Владимировна" timestamp="2009-10-15T12:38:24Z" level="IPP" />
      <pt ns="2" title="Участник:Box" timestamp="2009-09-01T11:58:36Z" level="sysop" />
      <pt ns="14" title="Категория:Templates using ParserFunctions" timestamp="2009-08-31T09:18:42Z" level="sysop" />
      <pt ns="14" title="Категория:Date computing template" timestamp="2009-08-31T09:18:27Z" level="sysop" />
      <pt ns="14" title="Категория:Ресурсы" timestamp="2009-07-24T10:14:10Z" level="sysop" />
      <pt ns="14" title="Категория:Абитурентам" timestamp="2009-07-23T12:47:16Z" level="sysop" />
      <pt ns="10" title="Шаблон:Сервер ЯГПУ" timestamp="2009-07-21T12:48:15Z" level="moderator" />
    </protectedtitles>
  </query>
</api>