MIAMI (AFP) - Anti-globalization protesters clashed with police, as tens of thousands of union workers and sympathizers marched against a pact that would result in the world's largest free trade area.
Ministers from every nation in the hemisphere except Cuba met here to discuss plans to implement the sweeping agreement, known as the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Riot police, many clad in heavy body armor, swung clubs, hurled flash grenades and sprayed tear gas to move a crowd of around 800 away from a barricade near the Intercontinental Hotel, where trade ministers are meeting.
After the clash an estimated 25,000 protesters, mostly belonging to mainstream US labor unions, marched and raised their fists against the FTAA, which they say will result in environmental abuses and a loss of jobs.
A phalanx of police officers, standing arm to arm in rows sometimes four deep, kept the protesters far from the hotel. Hundreds more police waited on side streets as reinforcements.
Many protestors were upset at the large number of police.
"If we had this much force in Iraq, things would be different," said Glenn Ball, a Korean War veteran at the protest.
"This is like we're being attacked by another country."
Trouble began when riot police declared that the meeting was an unlawful assembly and pushed reluctant protesters several blocks away from the barricades.
The protesters resisted and one hurled a makeshift smoke bomb at police. At least 12 people were arrested.
The crowd was cleared "to make way for the legitimate, permitted protest," according to a police statement, referring to the early afternoon rally organized by the AFL-CIO a labor union umbrella group.
John Peck, who traveled with a group of 50 protestors from the northern state of Wisconsin, said the FTAA would finish off family farms in the United States.
"There are more prisoners than farmers in the United States," said Peck, who marched in a full-body cow costume.
"Food is a basic human right, it shouldn't be a commodity."
Another man rode a large tricycle with a large picture of President George W. Bush, which grasped wads of cash and asked: "What is wrong with greed?"
"I'm a patriot," said the man, who gave his name as Paul Revere.
"We're standing against tyranny."
"Human freedom, animal rights -- one story, one fight!" chanted about 100 members of an environmental group dressed up in dolphin costumes.
After the union march, radical protestors fired slingshots at police and set dumpsters ablaze.
The union march was peaceful, but during the day at least 36 people were arrested, police said.
"This is exactly what we trained for," Police Chief John Timoney told reporters, as he toured the area on a bicycle, while helicopters buzzed overhead.
Protester Bill Dobbs decried what he called an "extraordinary police presence.
"For months, police and the mayor have whipped up fear about this protest," Dobbs said.
"There is an atmosphere of fear."
The overwhelming police presence in the downtown area helps prevent more people from joining the protests, Dobbs said. Many of the main thoroughfares were blocked and traffic diverted.
According to a police statement, two officers suffered minor injuries. Police gave no further details, but a news report said one of the officers had been injured when he slipped.
The city is playing a delicate balancing act, since Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas want the FTAA's future headquarters to be built here.
At the ministerial meeting, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim urged representatives to be realistic about what can be achieved.
"Instead of blaming each other, ... we see what's possible -- and in my opinion, what's possible is quite broad," Amorim said.
FTAA advocates say the agreement would generate jobs across the hemisphere.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.