Infamous ‘Miami Model’ of Protest Clampdown, Coming to a Town Near You

by Christopher Getzan

The News Standard
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=488

Jun 8 - When thousands of demonstrators converged in
Miami last November to protest the latest round of
negotiations over a Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA), city authorities dreaded a repeat of the failed
police response that allowed activists to hobble the
1999 World Trade Organization ministerial in Seattle.

Before the activists arrived in Miami last year, police
warned that violent anarchists were set to rampage
through the downtown area, intent on damaging property
and stopping negotiations for the hemispheric trade
zone pact that some activists call "NAFTA on steroids."

Instead of anarchists, however, protest participants
said another group got out of hand. "It was a police
riot," said Free Speech TV journalist Andy Dieringer.

Many journalists and activists have come to refer to
the police-orchestrated chaos and the ruthlessly
efficient clampdown that accompanied it as the "Miami
Model."

While the origins of that term are uncertain, the Miami
Model’s effectiveness — at least as judged by police
and city hall — may make it the brand name cities
reach for when faced with the prospect of thousands of
activists marching on their cities in opposition to
policies favored by the political and financial elite.

"The claim to its success is that there was no property
damage," said Randall Marshall, Legal Director for the
Florida ACLU. "Of course that says nothing about the
suppression of free speech in Miami."

Both anti-corporate globalization activists and an
independent review panel that examined police conduct
in Miami say crowd control techniques included large
scale pre-emptive arrests, deployment of heavily armed,
sometimes unidentifiable law enforcement officers who
infringed protester rights, and the collection of
intelligence by police and others on activists engaged
in lawful protest.

Organizers planning demonstrations this summer at the
G8 Summit on Sea Island off the Georgia coast, as well
as the Democratic National Convention in Boston and the
Republican National Convention in New York, say they
are already finding evidence that tactics similar to
those used in Miami are being replicated by law
enforcement officials at all three locations.

Last October, Georgia lawmakers proudly announced they
had secured $25 million from the Iraq appropriations
bill for G8 Summit security. Georgia Governor Sonny
Perdue has declared a state of emergency along the
Georgia coast in effect from May 31 to June 20, and
over 20,000 police will be stationed in Brunswick, a
coastal town near Sea Island, with a population of only
15,000 residents.

The city of Brunswick has also passed a protest permit
ordinance in anticipation of G8 protests that is so
restrictive the American Civil Liberties is challenging
its constitutionality in court. Activists currently in
Georgia for the G8 demonstrations this week have
already reported a high level of police harassment.

"I see that the screws are being tightened," said Bill
Dobbs, a spokesperson for United for Peace and Justice,
a coalition of over 700 local and national groups
involved in grassroots activism.

In Boston, city and police officials are talking about
throwing a 40-mile ring around the event, Dobbs said,
closing "streets, freeways, that sort of thing" off
from traffic entirely.

"Down in New York, nobody’s got any permits yet," Dobbs
says, referring to the New York City PD’s refusal so
far to approve any of the approximately 20
demonstration permits activists have applied for. Dobbs
said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is "either
flirting with chaos, or he’s inviting chaos" by failing
to accommodate peaceful protesters.

"I don’t know what the goal is," Dobbs said. "I know
the impact now is to chill dissent."

Carol Sobel, a co-chair of the National Lawyer’s Guild
(NLG) Mass Defense Committee, a network of lawyers,
legal workers and law students that provides legal
support for progressive protest movements, says the
Miami Model is based on three basic precepts. Pre-
emptive Arrests

The first is a policy of pre-emptive arrests, including
detainment of "neutral parties" such as legal
observers. Sobel’s group filed a federal lawsuit
against the city of Miami for its police response to
FTAA protests.

Andrea Costello, a co-counsel for the NLG Mass Defense
Committee who helped coordinate groups of legal
observers during the protest, said the Miami PD also
used "plainclothes extraction teams."

"We had [unmarked] police in full body armor, wearing
ski masks, with no identifying tags, jumping out of
vans" and dragging protesters off, she says.

After one particularly large round-up of protesters, a
number of people flocked to the city jail for a
solidarity protest, said Costello. "These folks were
told they could remain in that area," she said. "Then
[the police] turned around and told them they had to
disperse. As people actually started to comply with the
dispersal order, which we don’t even think was valid in
the first place, the police surrounded them and started
pepper spraying them."

This particular incident received criticism in the
initial draft of a report on Miami Police performance
during the FTAA meetings by the Miami-Dade Independent
Review Panel (IRP), a volunteer committee that
investigated citizen complaints over police conduct
during the FTAA conference. According to the IRP,
"Video tapes document individuals being arrested even
though they began to disperse prior to the 2 minute
deadline announced by megaphone."

According to Ed Griffiths, a Miami State Attorney’s
Office spokesperson, there have been 57 convictions in
the 219 arrests made by police during the FTAA
protests. Griffith said that while there is contact
between law enforcement and the justice system for a
large number of arrests, the Miami State Attorney’s
Office was not attempting to prosecute on the basis of
a defendant’s politics.

"We don’t characterize, we prosecute," Griffiths said.

Nevertheless, the IPR found that "most arrest charges
did not stand up to scrutiny." Massive, Costly
"Security" Presence

The second feature of the Miami Model, according to
Sobel, is an across-the-board, heavily armed, law-
enforcement presence.

The IRP "strenuously condemned and deplored" police for
"unrestrained and disproportionate use of force" and
said, "civil rights were trampled." And they extended
"heartfelt apologies" to those activists the panel said
had come "to [Miami] to peaceably voice their concerns,
but who were met with closed fists instead of open
arms."

Marshall says between 30 and 40 different law
enforcement bureaus, including the Coast Guard, the
Immigration and Nationalization Service, and Florida
Fish and Wildlife, blanketed Miami under the aegis of
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Review Panel said the law enforcement costs for the
FTAA are expected to exceed $24 million, "an amount
much higher than the reported $8,500,000 in Federal
funds available for reimbursement." Curiously, the IPR
report notes the federal monies were supposed to have
been committed to the "war on terrorism."

"Americans think they’re paying for a war in Iraq, but
they’re paying for a war at home on free speech," said
the NLG’s Sobel. Gathering "Intelligence"

The fruit of this distinctly military-flavored
cocktail, Sobel said, is to keep tabs on rabble-
rousers. "The point of it is to do a lot of
intelligence gathering... They’re operating from the
theory that the protesters provide a cloak for
terrorists." This intelligence gathering, said Sobel,
is the third ingredient of the Miami Model.

"We do know a couple of people who’ve gotten visits
from the FBI or law enforcement," Costello says, "who
specifically said their participation in the FTAA was
what brought [the FBI] out there."

Through a Miami Police Department spokesperson, Chief
John Timoney declined to comment for this article.
Queries made to Miami Mayor Manny Diaz’ office for an
explanation of the tactics used during the FTAA
meetings and the reasoning behind them were not
returned.

The IPR report said that "while the vast majority" of
the Miami PD "conducted themselves in a professional
manner," poor organization, miscommunication, and "an
emphasis on preparation for violent protesters" plagued
the police handling of demonstrations and "chilled
citizen participation in permitted and lawful
demonstrations and events." Future Protests

Chief Timoney’s word carries weight in protest-
management circles, according to Sobel. She said
Timoney’s effectiveness at suppressing protests outside
the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia four
years ago, when he ran that city’s department,
established his reputation as a protest-buster. Sobel
said Timoney has visited with police in Boston to talk
about preparations for the Democratic National
Convention.

Lieutenant Kevin Foley, director of media relations for
the Boston Police, said Timoney is only one source his
department has used for tactical advice about protest
management.

Foley, as well as his counterpart in New York, Police
Inspector Michael Cohen, are silent on any "models"
their respective police departments may employ when
protesters come calling on the Democratic and
Republican parties this summer.

According to the Department of Homeland Security press
office, both events have been categorized as National
Security Special Events, and Secret Service is
organizing the security around each.

"Every security plan is going to be unique, to be
tailored to that particular event," said Ann Roman, a
spokesperson for the US Secret Service. "We’re
confident in our other partners."

Roman does say "public viewing areas," often referred
to as "free speech zones," will be established. Such
spaces are often located blocks or even miles away from
the subjects that demonstrators are trying to protest.

Despite the reassurances from law enforcement, would-be
protesters and their legal representatives who will
turn out in force at this summer’s events predict
police tactics in tune with the Miami Model, with
concern over terrorism cited as the primary
rationalization for overwhelming presence, brute force
and devious infiltration.

[Chris Getzan has been published in newspapers and
weeklies, and has worked for Free Speech Television and
the Association of Community Organizations for Reform
Now. He is a soon-to-be-graduate of Naropa University
in Boulder, Colorado. Chris lives in Denver with his
cat, Gatsby.]

© 2004 The NewStandard.
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