MIAMI (AP) — Students protested at a department store, shop owners anticipating the worst boarded up their stores, parts of downtown continued to resemble a police state and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney rallied workers Wednesday, the fourth day of hemispheric free-trade talks.
All of this was just a precursor to Thursday, when more than 10,000 protesters are expected to march through downtown in opposition to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, which would unite 34 countries into the world's largest free-trade zone.
Seven anti-globalization activists opposed to the FTAA talks were arrested Wednesday and charged with burglary for using a Miami mansion to prepare for demonstrations, Miami police said. Officers said they found metal chains with locks on them, gas masks, crowbars and slingshots inside the home. They also say they found anti-FTAA leaflets.
The mansion, which was empty because its owners live out of town, once belonged to the family that owned the Burdines department stores, police said.
The Burdines store downtown was the scene of a protest Wednesday by about 20 demonstrators. They accused the store's corporate owner, Federated Department Stores Inc., of doing business with a manufacturer that uses sweatshop labor and has fought union organizing activities at its Mexican plant. Burdines doesn't sell clothing made at the plant.
The students shouted, "What do we want? Justice!" as they marched in a circle in front of the store. But two dozen police officers on bikes eventually forced the protesters into the street by pushing their bikes against the protesters while politely saying, "Excuse me" and "Pardon me."
"It's the police defending corporate America," said protester Dean Mogelgaard, a retired psychologist from Clearwater.
Federated spokeswoman Carol Sanger denied the accusation raised by the protesters, saying "It is not our practice to interfere in labor organizing at a facility where we do not have any merchandise."
Ben McKean, a leader of the Burdines protest, said the seven arrested at the mansion were not associated with his group, United Students Against Sweatshops.
Police have ramped up operations in anticipation of Thursday's march, remembering violent demonstrations that marred similar free trade meetings, including five days of riots during a 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle.
A total of 15 arrests related to FTAA protests have been reported since Saturday, the day before the meetings began.
Parts of downtown Miami resembled a police state Wednesday. Checkpoints with armed police officers blocked pedestrians without proper credentials from certain streets. Squad cars were on almost every block. Troopers searched vehicles before they could enter certain streets.
Officers in riot gear were stationed throughout downtown as others patrolled on bicycles, in cruisers and on foot. The Coast Guard cruised Biscayne Bay, next to downtown.
The extra police presence comforted some store owners, who were boarding up their shops in anticipation of Thursday's march.
"Everybody is scaring us. They say there's going to be trouble," said Sami Virani, who was placing plywood in the window of his watch shop, Watch Time. "It's worst than a hurricane."
Others said the police were going too far. The Florida Fair Trade Coalition, an anti-trade talks group, said that their media center at the Bayside Marketplace tourist attraction was raided by seven officers who searched through documents but made no arrests. Miami police did not immediately comment on Wednesday's raid.
"I don't know what's so subversive about having a media center," said Carolina Delgado, a coalition spokeswoman.
"We are concerned that the rights of dissent and expression of opinions be respected at every point by everyone," said the Rev. Fred Morris, executive director of the Florida Council of Churches. "We know that the overwhelming majority of people protesting the FTAA are against violence."
Groups including labor unions, farmers and environmentalists complain that free trade will take thousands of jobs to other countries, reduce workers' rights by exploiting cheap labor and drain natural resources.
Sweeney, the AFL-CIO leader, called workers "the forgotten heroes of the global economy" at a forum sponsored by organized labor. Hundreds of union members applauded as Sweeney lamented that organized labor was being ignored during the FTAA talks. The discussions need to include language banning child labor, guarantee the right to organize and address environmental concerns, Sweeney said.
"Our mission, very simply is either to radically rewrite the Bush Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, or stop it cold," he said.
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