Cash advance: Local cops should brace for ''as many as 70,000 protesters, some very violent,'' who will use everything from ''wrist rockets'' to ''squirt guns filled with acid or urine'' to disrupt the Nov. 20-21 Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting in downtown Miami.
So says retired DEA agent Tom Cash, 63, now senior managing director for Kroll Inc., an international security and business consulting firm.
In an advisory to major clients based on ''police intelligence,'' Cash warns of the ''Red Group'' -- the smallest but most radical bunch of protesters.
''They will conduct criminal acts and feel that property crime is a legitimate political tool,'' Cash writes. '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.''
Cash's memo refers to the violent protests at the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle where 50,000 demonstrated.
Says Cash: ``Anarchists vandalized and destroyed property in the heart of downtown. They used crowbars to break glass windows and plate glass storefronts, burned cars and garbage Dumpsters, and started fires in strip malls.''
Cash says he's a realist, not an alarmist. 'We don't want to be going around screaming `Wolf!' '' he says. ```But if past be prologued, then we should be concerned. This thing is coming, and not many people seem to be giving a damn and paying attention to it.''
Miami police Chief John Timoney, 55, says it is hard to project accurate numbers, but the city has a ''good game plan.'' Officers are getting special training, with ''cut teams'' in place to cut through ''sleeping dragons'' -- a device of PVC pipe and wristlocks used by demonstrators to form a human chain -- without hurting protesters' hands. ''We figure we can handle anything,'' Timoney says.
Miami-Dade police uniform services division Chief Randy Heller, 43, adds: ``We're preparing for the worst case scenario.''
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.