MIAMI -- A reporter for an alternative weekly newspaper said Monday that she doesn't understand why she was arrested during last week's protests outside the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting.
Miami New Times reporter Celesete Fraser Delgado, 36, said she was interviewing protesters opposed to the proposed 34-nation free-trade pact Thursday when a Miami-Dade County police cruiser pulled up and an officer yelled at the group to get on the ground.
The protests had turned sporadically violent Thursday, with some demonstrators throwing objects and firing slingshots at officers and some officers hitting protesters with sticks, zapping them with stun guns and dispersing them with gas. But Delgado said she and the others complied peacefully. She said she was handcuffed and put into a police van even though she told officers she was a reporter.
"I kept asking them 'What am I being detained for?' but they wouldn't say. In the paddy wagon we could hear the police officers arguing about what they were going to charge us with,'' Delgado said.
Delgado was charged with two misdemeanors, failure to obey a legal command and resisting arrest without violence. The charges were dropped Friday and she was released.
Protesters and officials from the AFL-CIO, which organized a Thursday march against the FTAA, have accused the police of overreacting, saying officers attacked and arrested peaceful protesters along with those who were violent.
Police officials declined specific comment Monday on Delgado's case, but said officers acted appropriately during the melees. The State Attorney's Office said Delgado's charges were dropped for lack of evidence.
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.