Union: Police Broke Protest Promise

[DUreader]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1126-03.htm


Miami police did not abide by an agreement to allow 25
busloads of seniors access to an anti-free-trade rally, a retired
workers leader says.
by Amy Driscoll

Miami police reneged on their promise to give safe passage to 25 busloads of
seniors who attempted to attend Thursday's AFL-CIO rally against the Free Trade
Area of the Americas, the leader of a retired union workers group charged Tuesday.

Tony Fansetta, president of the Florida Alliance for Retired
Americans, said 13 of the busloads were turned away and
many of the others were diverted, forcing senior citizens to
walk up to two miles to attend the permitted rally at Bayfront
Amphitheater.

Only five buses were allowed into the previously arranged
drop-off point next to Bayside Marketplace, according to
union officials.

''It is despicable when in good faith you have what is
referred to as the greatest generation -- and I'm a Korean
War veteran myself -- come down here in good faith and
jump through every hoop the city of Miami asked us to jump
through,'' Fansetta said.

[northernsoul]

1. this is ridiculous

this steelworker's grandson hopes these upstanding Americans sue the pants off of the city of Miami for violating their constitutional rights!

:kick:

[DoctorMyEyes]

2. I hope Miami

is hit with so many lawsuits over the tactics their police department used that they become the "text book case" of what NOT to do for other cities.

NYC next year depends largely on whether Miami is perceived as a success or a failure - not to us - but to the ignorantly oblivious "mainstreamers".

[Occulus]

3. This is all going to come to a head one day

I can see something like the FTAA protest turning all too easily into a bloodbath. All it takes is either a) one stupid protestor or b) a single bully of a cop to do something seriously violent, and it'll be over.....

:scared:

[CaptainClark23]

11. More likely

one bully of a cop posing as one stupid protestor.

[info being]

13. Exactly

I'm confident that there will be a staged liberal terrorist attack before the next election. It is the only way the Rethugs can win, and we all know they're capable of it.

I'm thinking Seattle.

[Judi Lynn]

4. I had heard they had turned away entire buses that day

This is most definitely an abridgement of their freedom of speech, assembly. Only in Banana Republic Miami. I pray there will be repercussions.

From the article:

(snip) Every bus had a placard on the front windshield with the name: Florida Alliance for Retired Americans. The name and phone number of every person on each bus had been given to police in advance, he said.

''I'm speaking right now to Manuel Diaz, the mayor of Miami, and Alex Penelas, Miami-Dade mayor,'' he continued. ``You had the responsibility for this junkyard dog that you brought in here by the name of Timoney. You cannot have a dog in your yard acting like they did and not yourself accept accountability. And that's what this is going to be about. You cannot treat the greatest generation this way and not expect to be held accountable.''

Timoney does not work for Penelas, but Penelas' chief of staff, Javier Alberto Soto, said the mayor believes all 40 police agencies involved in FTAA security did their jobs in ''exemplary'' fashion.
(snip)

Someone from Miami needs to ANSWER for this. Miami has a hideous reputation already concerning freedom of speech and the law.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Miami cops removing coconuts from trees before the protest?

This article says that the Miami police removed the cocunuts from the coconut palms before the FTAA conference, to prevent the terrifying protestors from hurling them around, like great apes! Who would have EVER expected this?

The reference to Miami specifically is found approximately half way down the page, in a good article on our impending police state:

(snip) It's popular to say that corporate globalization is war by other means, but what went down in Miami during the FTAA skipped the part about other means. And though it was most directly – thanks to clubs, pellet guns, rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray and other weapons – an assault on the bodies of protestors, it was first an assault against the right of the people peaceably to assemble and other first amendment rights, a dramatic example of how hallowed American rights are being dismantled in the name of the war on terrorism.


For months beforehand, Police Chief John Timoney – engineer of the coup against constitutional rights at the 2000 Republican National Convention when he headed Philadelphia's police force – had portrayed protestors as terrorists and the gathering in Miami as a siege of the city. Much of the money for militarizing Miami came, appropriately enough, from an $8.5 million rider tacked onto the $87 million spending bill for the war in Iraq. Miami will pay directly, however, both in revenue lost from shutting the city down and, presumably, for activists' police brutality and civil-rights-violation lawsuits.


Perhaps the silliest example of the paranoiac reaction to the arrival of protestors was the removal of all coconuts from downtown Miami palm trees, lest activists throw them at the authorities – whether after first shaking or scaling the trees was not made clear. Every outdoor trashcan had also apparently been removed from downtown; second-guessing terrorists is an exercise whose creativity knows no bounds.


One of the most explicit ways the FTAA policing was modeled after "the war on terror" abroad was the police decision to "embed" reporters. While a number of reporters – looking dorky in their borrowed helmets – joined the Miami cops, protestors invited the press to join the other side as well, and many did. (Some got tear-gassed, and reported on it.) (snip/...)

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17267

[durutti]

6. Everyone, PLEASE contact you representative!

Ask them if they voted for the $87 billion for Iraq. Tell them that the bill included $7.5 million for Miami. Tell them to call for an investigation!

[DUreader]

10. I think you are short $1 million

$8.5 million is what I read.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Militarization in Miami (the demonstrators' buses mentioned)

November 26, 2003

Militarization in Miami
Threatening the Right to Protest
By RUSSELL MOKHIBER
and ROBERT WEISSMAN

There was a real threat to the social order on the streets of Miami last week, during the Ministerial Meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

It wasn't protesters, not even those calling themselves anarchists or even those dressed in black.

No, the threat came from the Miami police, Florida state troopers and the other police and military forces patrolling the city.

With more than $10 million in special funding (including an $8.5 million allocation in the federal government's Iraq appropriations bill), 2,500 or so officers -- many clad in full body armor and backed up by armored vehicles -- turned Miami into a veritable police state.

As was almost inevitable, the police used wildly excessive force to deal with protesters. They launched unprovoked attacks against people who were doing nothing illegal. They sprayed tear gas and pepper spray at protesters -- including retirees -- and shot many with rubber bullets. They used taser guns. They knocked down peaceful protesters and held guns to their heads. They blocked thousands of retirees and union members on buses from joining a rally and march for which all required permits had been obtained. They attacked journalists viewed as hostile. They arrested approximately 250 persons, according to the best estimates, with little or no rationale. Credible reports have emerged of brutality and sexual harassment against several of those jailed. (snip/...)

http://www.counterpunch.org/mokhiber11262003.html

[lostnfound]

12. DN! Interview: Retired airline pilot, age 71, handcuffed for 12 hours

Democracy Now! stories on FTAA provide some depth and credibility. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/26/1538221

Bentley Killmon (71), a retired airline pilot, told the AP he was arrested while looking for the AARP bus. He encountered police dressed in riot gear, who pointed guns at him, pushed him to the ground, arrested him, handcuffed him for 7.5 hours -- beginning at 5 pm -- got water at 3:45 am the next morning, and didn't get a chance to make a phone call until 18 hours total had passed.

Monday, on DN!, the stories of Ana Nogueira and Tom Haydn were told. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/24/1455248

A friend of mine who was there told me about an 82 year old woman sprayed in the face with pepper spray.

It's terrible when this abuse happens to anyone..what does it mean when it happens to someone in the 70s or 80s? Can police in riot gear really have felt threatened by them? Sure if they had a gun..or were black belt Karate experts..? But I heard this morning that charges have been dropped against all protestors.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Charges dropped against ALL protestors?

Excellent. I hope the protestors will plunge ahead and go after them.

They've been so damned smug that they crushed the demonstration. This needs to get opened up and examined.

[gratuitous]

8. Unofficial response: Yeah? So what?

After all, the event is now over, and the people no longer want to peaceably assemble to petition for redress, so what's the big schmeal?

That will be the authorities' response in a nutshell for whatever lawsuit gets filed. Unfortunately, with the judiciary firmly tucked into one party's pocket, it will probably fly. Oh, the judge might have some nasty words for the cops or the municipal authorities, but the upshot will be "Too bad, so sad. But you get nothin'."

[htuttle]

9. And the next time there's a protest in Miami...

...I don't doubt that the organizers will tell the Miami police department to go suck wind. They won't get an advance notice of all the organizer's plans next time.

[gratuitous]

16. Well, the chances for violence certainly ratchet up

Whenever the peaceful protest gets derailed like it did in Miami, the chances that someone is going to say "Screw that noise" at the next demonstration become a little better.

Discipline must be our watchword on protests. We're not against the police per se, but trying to reach an audience that isn't tuned into the issue, or has no strong feelings about it. Both Gandhi and King kept the hotheads in line and defused the propensity for violence, and won significant victories for their cause. They both paid the price for their success, but the world is a starkly different place because of their influence. If it's going to change again, we need to maintain our discipline and stay focused on who and what we're fighting against.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Amnesty International calls for an investigation

AI Index: AMR 51/142/2003
Date: 26 November 2003

USA:
Allegations of excessive use of force and ill-treatment of protestors in Miami


Amnesty International called today for a full and independent inquiry into allegations of excessive use of force by police during demonstrations in Miami on 20 November. The organization has also received dozens of reports of ill-treatment of those detained during the demonstration.

Police are reported to have fired rubber bullets and used batons, pepper spray, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades on crowds demonstrating against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations, leaving some people hospitalized and dozens more treated for injuries. Scores of people, including journalists and observers, were arrested during the demonstration, some reportedly subjected to ill-treatment in detention. Amnesty International is currently gathering more information on the reported violations.

"The level of force used by police does not appear to have been at all justified." Amnesty International said, noting reports that only a small minority of demonstrators had engaged in acts of violence.

Miami Police Chief John Timoney today issued a letter to the media stating that his department would be undertaking a comprehensive review of the FTAA security operation and would produce a public report.

"Any investigation into the violence in Miami must be fully independent and must also look into allegations of ill-treatment following arrest. If the force used is shown to have been excessive, then those involved should be disciplined, measures put in place and training given to ensure future policing operations in Miami conform to international standards.", Amnesty International stressed.

Amnesty International is investigating reports that some of those arrested during the demonstrations have been subjected to ill-treatment while in detention. One woman is reported to have been strip-searched by four male officers and left naked. Other reports suggest that detainees have been beaten and sprayed with pepper gas and high-powered water hoses inside Dade County Jail. (snip/...)

http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amnesty.ca%2Flibrary%2Fnews%2Famr5114203.htm