Security preparations for FTAA meeting…
[Does it strike anyone as a dubious return on investment to dump $14 million into security, when even the worst-case scenario produced only $2 million in damage? If the anarchists’ goal was to “damage” the establishment, they sure succeeded, because the security preparations for all these meetings have been just nuts. Of course, my theory is that Seattle is just an excuse for an undemocratic clampdown on political protest. Part of BushCo’s campaign to stifle dissent. -Thomas]
Tight lid on Miami
Talks on hemispheric free trade attract a small army of protesters
By DAN CHAPMAN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Peter Andrew Bosch / Miami Herald
Shoppers strolling in downtown Miami this week could easily find a police officer if they needed one. City officials are determined that activists won’t shut down the city or disrupt a free trade conference.
MIAMI — Helicopters buzz incessantly overhead. Police boats, with blue lights flashing, ring Biscayne Bay. Hundreds of officers wearing full body armor patrol nearly deserted downtown streets.
Lists of road closings scroll along the bottom of TV screens. Cruise ships quit the harbor, fearing for their passengers’ safety. The business district is emptied of most lawyers, bankers, accountants, jewelers and students.
An 8-foot-high security fence snakes down Biscayne Boulevard.
This tropical city is bracing today for the civil disturbance equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane as officials from 34 countries negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
As many as 20,000 demonstrators — trade unionists, farmers, retirees, environmentalists, anti-war activists and anarchists — are expected to noisily make known their opposition to the proposed trade pact for 800 million consumers.
Not since “the battle in Seattle,” when hundreds of demonstrators went on a rampage that caused $2 million in damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting, have the anti-globalization stars been so aligned.
