Posted on 11/19/2003 1:36:03 PM PST by Pikamax
Wednesday, November 19 Miami demonstrators deflated amid massive police showing
By John Pacenti, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 19, 2003
MIAMI -- By the time the first organized demonstration wandered Tuesday into downtown Miami, police were more than ready to deflate it.
A ragtag group of demonstrators intent on protesting the easing of tobacco tariffs at the Free Trade of the Americas conference found themselves under the gaze of a hovering police helicopter. They had brought with them a large inflatable cigarette pack, but authorities quickly took exception to the gasoline-powered generator the protesters wanted to use.
So they were reduced to having a mock "die-in" around their deflated giant pack of Marlboros in front of the Torch of Friendship -- a stone's throw from where ministers from 34 countries are meeting this week to talk about erasing of trade barriers in the hemisphere.
"We're concerned about delivering our message," said Robert Weissman, co-director of the anti-smoking group Essential Action.
Miami has been transformed into an armed camp of police of just about every ilk in an effort to avoid violence that has marred other trade summits elsewhere.
"They have a SWAT team on the corner. That's scary," said Flossie Williams, who owns a gift shop near where the talks are taking place. "I've been taking photos of them. I have cops on horses. I have cops on bikes. I have cops from Pensacola. I have cops from all over."
In many ways, it's de facto martial law.
Black security fences cut up the area into a rat's maze where only those with proper ID can maneuver. Sometimes that was not even enough, as police refused to accept the FTAA badge without two other forms of identification.
In the afternoon, heavily armed officers greeted a protest march in front of the Immigration and Naturalization building north of the downtown area.
"It's so funny. It's like, 'What do you think we're doing?' " said Melodie Malfa of the Lake Worth Global Justice Group, who was marching with the protest.
Most police officers Tuesday looked extremely bored, and readily admitted so when asked. At one check point, officers in riot gear compared their retractable batons.
Luis Lauredo, executive director of the Miami FTAA, defended the security measures.
"We are living under constraints, and living happy under those constraints because we live in a free society," he said.
Demonstrations are planned for today and Thursday. Protesters have also vowed to demonstrate at the county government center Thursday morning even though they do not have a permit.
john_pacenti@pbpost.com
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