A work week like few in South Florida history began Monday with little more than modest traffic delays and shuttered shops, a visible display of authority in the heart of downtown Miami and a hint of what might lie in store for the rest of the week.
Authorities reported no violent or serious occurrences related to the international trade talks that are attracting thousands of demonstrators to the region.
But police made five arrests and, separately, confiscated four gas masks that might have been positioned by protesters.
Officers patrolling the downtown area said they found the gas masks inside a maroon nylon bag at the parking lot of the Miami Sun Hotel, 226 NE First Ave., in the area expected to experience demonstrations later this week.
On Monday, however, much of that area seemed surreal -- dormant but expectant, streets nearly devoid of traffic, shop owners anxious, tourists replaced by police officers on foot, horseback and bicycle.
''So why did they have to have this right here in downtown Miami?'' asked Belitza Ruiz, who owns an office supply store at 50 SE Third Ave. ``Why not Homestead?''
Said Katherine Paradies, who works in the ghost town that was the Brickell Avenue financial district: ``It's almost too quiet. We feel like something is going to happen in the next few days. Hopefully not.''
WORKING THE WEEK
Negotiators from 34 nations are in the area until Friday, working toward an accord that would create a Free Trade Area of the Americas. They say open markets would spur economic development and raise living standards throughout the Americas.
Thousands of protesters also are in the region or heading this way. Ranging from retirees associated with the AFL-CIO to teenage anarchists, they say the free trade zone would take jobs from the United States and exploit cheaper labor elsewhere.
''We are . . . people just like you who wish to work with communities in Miami to challenge [the FTAA] meetings and work toward a world based on justice and equality,'' read a flier handed out by protesters Monday.
Outside the Sun Hotel, three people near the nylon bag denied knowledge of the gas masks, a police spokesman said. Police also spotted street hockey masks in a van belonging to one of the three people.
''It's kind of odd that you find people from out of town coming down here with street hockey masks,'' said Miami police Lt. David Magnusson.
MAIN SITE
Later, two people who police said were pulling on a fence that surrounds the Hotel Inter-Continental -- main site of the talks -- were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. One person was charged with felony battery against a law enforcement officer. Detective Delrish Moss, a spokesman for the Miami Police Department, said the officer was not injured.
Also, two people were detained for urinating on a downtown street, but their arrests were later voided, police said.
During a news conference conducted outside Miami City Hall, a coalition of activist organizations criticized what they called the ''heavy-handed'' tactics of police. Protesters complained that police were searching their backpacks and pockets.
In other developments:
• A three-day, 34-mile march by about 140 opponents of the negotiations that began Sunday in Fort Lauderdale moved through Southeast Broward County on Monday and reached North Miami by evening. Ultimate destination: Miami, this morning.
STRIPPING DOWN
• A dozen activists associated with a group called the Gapatista Road Show stripped to their underwear outside a Gap store in Miami Beach to protest what they claimed were the company's exploitative labor practices.
''We'd rather wear nothing than wear Gap!'' they chanted.
• The SunTrust at 1400 NW 20th St. was evacuated shortly after 4 p.m., after a peculiar odor made several employees and customers cough and choke. One person was treated at the scene after fainting.
Miami police said two empty pepper-spray cans were found in a garbage container. It was not clear what connection, if any, the incident had to the FTAA talks.
Elsewhere, small scenes told the story.
An eight-foot-high fence surrounded AmericanAirlines Arena. Tourists strolled through Bayside Marketplace, but shoppers seemed in short supply. Prospects were especially gloomy at Let's Make a Daiquiri, where manager Roland Diaz bemoaned a ''rainy-day'' level of sales, as the sun shone brightly.
Herald staff writers Scott Andron, Lisa Arthur, Elinor J. Brecher, Ashley Fantz, Tere Figueras, Beatrice E. Garcia, David Ovalle, Matthew I. Pinzur, Karl Ross, Carolyn Salazar, Michael Vasquez, Casey Woods and Luisa Yanez contributed to this report.
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