Even as the first major protest against the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit went off without a hitch in Broward County Sunday, police in downtown Miami were out in force and some businesses were shuttered.
About 140 protesters peacefully embarked on a 34-mile, three day march from Oakland Park to Miami -- a mile planned for every nation participating in the FTAA negotiations this week.
Talks to create the world's largest trading block from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego are drawing to Miami government representatives from across the hemisphere -- and foes including labor unions, migrant farmers and anarchists who say free trade enriches corporations and impoverishes individuals.
'Sometimes you got to say, `No way!' I identify with people who are smaller, who feel beaten up by the bigger people of this world,'' said a 57-year-old grandmother Jearline Borders, who shouted chants into a bullhorn. She was riding atop a flatbed truck that led the procession of marchers.
''Bush says free trade; we say no way!'' Borders shouted.
The crowd included several Florida-based groups like the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Miami's Power U and Low Income Families Fighting Together. Broward Sheriff's Office deputies followed.
''What you've seen on the news, with the police all in their gear ready to take people down, that's not what we're about,'' said Gihan Perera, executive director of the Miami Workers Center.
In a middle-class neighborhood in Oakland Park, Kerry and Sue Prichett brought their 13-year-old daughter Ashley to watch the protest.
''We wanted to show her what a peaceful protest is like,'' said Sue Prichett.
Ashley, for her part, wasn't impressed. She called the marchers ``weird.''
City of Miami police and other law enforcement agencies said there were no FTAA-related arrests Sunday.
''It's been a quiet day, uneventful,'' said Herminia Salas-Jacobson, a Miami police spokeswoman.
DOWNTOWN SHUTDOWN
Despite the calm, some businesses in downtown Miami seemed to be bracing for the worst.
Many protests are planned in the coming week. Several storefronts -- including a Bank of America branch -- were boarded up. Police on horseback and bicycles circulated through downtown.
Some companies seemed to view the protests as a chance to make a few bucks. A small plane circled above downtown Miami with a banner reading ``HEY FTAA PROTEST UP HERE NOT DOWN THERE 18002FLYADS.''
Aerial Sign Co. of Pembroke Pines, the plane's owner, said no protest groups have signed up for a sky-high swipe at the trade talks -- which would cost $380 for three passes over downtown.
Also Sunday, a coalition of groups including Anarchists, the Green Bloc and Food Not Bombs held a press conference at the 2300 North Miami Ave. warehouse where they have been planning this week's protests.
Inside, members painted banners and built puppets for rallies later in the week. One depicted Miami Police Chief John Timoney wielding a club, another showed a migrant worker dressed like the Statue of Liberty.
The anti-globalization protesters discussed the Saturday arrests of five people charged with ``obstruction of free passage on sidewalks.''
They were held at the downtown Miami police headquarters for about seven hours before being released, they said.
Some of those arrested denounced the Miami police department's decision to invoke a rarely-enforced city ordinance to make the arrests.
''It was shameful for the city of Miami. We were walking down the sidewalk,'' said Henry Harris, a legal observer with the protesters who was among the five arrested. ``But if you look a certain way, that is blocking the sidewalk.''
Police said the group was warned several times to clear the walkway, but refused.
ARREST PREPARATIONS
Salas-Jacobson, the police spokeswoman, said people arrested during upcoming protests would be processed in a variety of places, and not necessarily at the Miami-Dade County jail.
''We're going to be using different locations off-site for processing,'' she said.
A representative from the ACLU was on hand at the press conference to denounce the arrests. A ''goodwill ambassador'' from the City of Miami's Community Relations Board promised to act as a buffer between police and protesters.
Miami--Dade County has launched a telephone hot line to answer questions about road and school closures and security plans related to the FTAA summit. That number is 305-468-5900.
Herald photographer Joshua Prezant and staff writer Doug Hanks III contributed to this report.
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