Miami braces for crush of free-trade protesters

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Miami braces for crush of free-trade protesters

By John Pacenti, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, October 2, 2003


MIAMI -- Of all cities in America, image-conscious Miami knows a few things about black
eyes: There was Time magazine's nasty "Paradise Lost" profile in 1981. Then came Elian's
ugly exit in 2000. And the flight of the Latin Grammy Awards in 2001 to seemingly more
stable Los Angeles.

So it figures that Miami is in no mood for the hordes of aggressive demonstrators
expected to descend upon the Magic City for next month's Free Trade Area of the Americas
meeting.

If the dire predictions hold true, Miami is in for another whipping -- one watched
worldwide via satellite TV.

Free-trade summits are magnets for big protests.

Expect well-seasoned radicals, some armed with squirt guns loaded with acid or urine,
warns Tom Cash, South Florida's former Drug Enforcement Administration agent-in-charge and
now an international security consultant.

"They will conduct criminal acts and feel that property crime is a legitimate political
tool,'' Cash wrote in a client advisory issued by the Kroll security firm, his employer.
"These are anarchists, known as the 'Black Bloc.' They dress totally in black and wear ski
masks, carry weapons such as crowbars, large clubs or ninja sticks.''

Miami is no stranger to anarchy. In 1933, an unemployed bricklayer named Giuseppe Zangara
tried to shoot President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami's Bayfront Park. Instead,
he killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak -- and was executed in the electric chair a mere 32
days later.

With all this as a backdrop, Miami is counting on its new police chief, John Timoney, for
emergency assistance.

Though he's been Miami's chief for little more than nine months, Timoney comes uniquely
suited for the task.

Tough-talking with a clipped Irish brogue, Timoney is a 30-year police veteran who earned
his stripes on the streets of the Bronx.

In Philadelphia, where he was police commissioner, he personally confronted protesters at
the 2000 Republican National Convention.

He actually pedaled a bicycle into the middle of a fray. A rioter smashed him over the
head with the bike.

"Unfortunately, I picked the biggest guy," Timoney said in an interview this year. "I
should've picked a smaller guy."

Four hundred protesters were arrested in Philadelphia. Many more busts are expected in
Miami, with police departments all the way to Palm Beach County on alert.

- Law would ban gas masks, bulletproof vests -

The November trade meetings are expected to attract as many as 100,000 protesters from
around the globe. Groups from Palm Beach County alone say they plan on sending 10,000.

To control the anticipated crowds, the police department has asked the Miami City
Commission for a temporary law that speaks to Timoney's no-nonsense approach. Among other
things, police want gas masks and bulletproof vests banned during the conference so protesters
can't shrug off rubber bullets and tear gas.

Police want to prohibit any length of lumber, which will by proxy forbid the giant
papier-mâch(c) puppets that trade protesters love to parade in front of cameras. The puppets
could be used by anarchists for cover, Timoney said.

And giant protest signs? Those could be turned into giant batons to beat police. Only
small cardboard placards would be allowed. And they could only be attached to paper tubing
for waving above the crowd.

The ordinance, if it gets approved, would expire a week after the trade meetings. A final
Miami City Commission vote was delayed until Oct. 23 after the ordinance ran into
opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union, among others.

Trade protest groups say the measures are more designed to steal their media thunder than
for security.

"It truly is astonishing how far they are trying to reach," said Randall Marshall,
president of ACLU's Florida chapter. "This attempt is without precedent anywhere else in the
country."

Miami's image handlers are worried. Having the prestigious trade meeting here was
intended to pump up Miami's standing as the so-called Gateway to the Americas. Will the gate
crashers further trash Miami's reputation?

"There is concern," says Ric Katz, a Miami public relations counselor and political
adviser. "We want this meeting to go over well. Having this meeting successful would open the
door for Miami to host other events."

Others fret about Miami's tumultuous track record.

"There is added pressure on Miami to do it right because in the past Miami has done
things a little bit short of right," said Bruce Rubin, another longtime Miami public relations
man.

Rubin points to the Latin Grammy Awards, which pulled out of Miami in 2001 after rowdy
protests by Cuban exiles upset that musicians from their native country were to perform.
The awards returned to Miami last month, but only after the city lost millions of dollars
in business.

Before that there was little Elian Gonzalez, snatched at gunpoint by federal agents from
his Miami relatives under orders from then-Attorney General Janet Reno. The boy's forced
return to his father in Cuba was a story seen around the globe. Cameras captured the
unrest and aggressive clear-the-streets police response.

All of that pales in comparison to the often violent demonstrations at world trade
conferences.

At 1999's World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, 50,000 protesters were arrested and
$2 million in damage was wrought. Last month in Cancun, Mexico, a protester committed
suicide by stabbing himself in the chest during an anti-WTO demonstration.

But the most favored attention-grabbers for these protesters are their oversize puppets.
The possibility of them being seized in Miami as potential weapons particularly rankles
organizers. They say the Miami ordinance is a tactic to eliminate the colorful 15-foot
caricatures of such sacred cows as Ronald McDonald and President Bush because they are often
the first to be shown on television and newspapers.

The protest groups like the puppets because they cut through language barriers. They like
big signs because diplomats attending the conference can see them better.

Melodie Malfa, a member of the Lake Worth Global Justice Group, said the strict
requirements of the ordinance will make the puppets too expensive. She is helping assemble puppets
for the Free Trade Area of the Americas protests at a Lake Worth warehouse.

"Everything that puppets and signs are made of are from scavenged and found material,"
Malfa said. "We can't order signs and cardboard tubes according to what their ordinance
says."

Deborah Smith, with Stop FTAA Palm Beach County/Treasure Coast, said the proposed
ordinance is intended to scare would-be protesters into thinking they will be arrested for the
most minor infractions.

Smith said it could backfire: the restrictions could easily turn a peaceful protest into
a violent one.

"I think they are trying to pick a fight," she said.

- Criticism 'nothing to do with free speech' -

Kelly Penton, spokeswoman for Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, said the city is trying to tailor
the restrictions to make them more palatable to protest groups. It's likely, she said,
that the ban on gas masks will be dropped.

For Police Chief Timoney, all the griping about free speech rights is a bunch of hooey.
He said his proposed ordinance is patterned after one passed in Los Angeles for the 2000
Democratic National Convention and upheld by one of the most liberal appellate courts in
the country.

He said the city of Miami is concerned about the fringe element, the anarchists, who plan
to infiltrate the legitimate protesters and cause havoc by throwing bricks and bottles.

"It's complete garbage. It has nothing to do with free speech," the chief said. "I have a
lifetime of experience in ugly crowds. All I want to do is to protect my officers from
bottles and bricks."