Free Republic

Posted on Sat, Dec. 20, 2003 FREE TRADE MEETING Judge: I saw police commit felonies A judge who said he witnessed some of the anti-free trade protests complains in open court about how police handled the demonstrations. By AMY DRISCOLL adriscoll@herald.com A judge presiding over the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw ''no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers'' during the November demonstrations, adding to a chorus of complaints about police conduct. Judge Richard Margolius, 60, made the remarks in open court last week, saying he was taken aback by what he witnessed...

A judge presiding over the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw ''no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers'' during the November demonstrations, adding to a chorus of complaints about police conduct.Judge Richard Margolius, 60, made the remarks in open court last week, saying he was taken aback by what he witnessed while attending the protests.''Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career,'' he said, according to a court transcript. ``This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community.''In the transcript,...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The comedian David Cross once remarked that our country must be in trouble because we have to read other countries' newspapers to find out what is going on in our own nation. Last Saturday, community activists convened at a small house on the west side of Ann Arbor, Mich., to witness video footage compiled by independent journalists of the police brutality at the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas conference in Miami last month. The footage, and the lack of media exposure of what actually happened, is living proof that our country's media is currently divorced...

The rent-a-mob that descended on Miami provided a familiar service: scaring away responsible opponents and further justifying the police state build-up.The motley collection of protesters who came to Miami to demonstrate against the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has become a familiar sight at these confabs. As usual, the weird menagerie included a mixture of the prosaic, the perverse, the vicious, the absurd, and the obscene: union hard hats, self-proclaimed lesbian "dykes," clench-fisted Communists, tie-dyed dolphin dancers, and grotesquely tattooed grandmas. There were lots of t-shirts sporting the visage of Communist revolutionary Che Guevara or cop-killer convict...

  Bienvenido a Miami, Scum...OrI Went to a Protest and a Police State Broke Out. I heard about the FTAA Ministerial conference scheduled in Miami a couple of weeks ago and decided that it would be a great excuse for a day off from work. I researched the demonstrations on the IndyMedia site and determined that Thursday was going to be the big day. I filled out the appropriate forms, got the approval of my boss, and picked up a partner in a budding Che Guevara co worker.Wednesday night I charged all my batteries, cleared all the Compact Flash cards...

Last Wednesday Amnesty International (AI) published a press release calling for an investigation into the Miami Police surrounding the recent protests in Miami Florida against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). AI asserts that excessive force was exercised by the police in containing the protests, resulting in numerous injuries and arrests. One wonders if AI has ever asked for an investigation into protest organizers who have caused millions of dollars worth of damage and injury to people in places like Seattle, Prague, Genoa, and Washington D.C.

The Radical Left's "Cyber-Grapevine" By Michael P. Tremoglie FrontPageMagazine.com | November 26, 2003 In the wake of the anarcho-socialist invasion of Miami to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meetings, it is important to understand how such events are organized. Independent Media Centers (or IMC or Indymedia) are the “cyber-grapevine,” the “CNN,” and the “Clear Channel,” for just about every lunatic leftist fringe group dedicated to eliminating capitalism from the world. Indymedia is the institution developed so the anarcho-socialists can communicate with each other and coordinate their activities. In fact, no less an authority than Mother Jones...

In the wake of the anarcho-socialist invasion of Miami to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meetings, it is important to understand how such events are organized. Independent Media Centers (or IMC or Indymedia) are the “cyber-grapevine,” the “CNN,” and the “Clear Channel,” for just about every lunatic leftist fringe group dedicated to eliminating capitalism from the world. Indymedia is the institution developed so the anarcho-socialists can communicate with each other and coordinate their activities. In fact, no less an authority than Mother Jones magazine paid tribute to IMC in their November 17 edition, observing that, "The...

America's enemy within Armed checkpoints, embedded reporters in flak jackets, brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrators. Baghdad? No, Miami Naomi Klein Wednesday November 26, 2003 The Guardian In December 1990, President George Bush Sr travelled through South America to sell the continent on a bold new dream: "A free trade system that links all of the Americas." Addressing the Argentine Congress, he said that the plan, later to be named the Free Trade Area of the Americas, would be "our hemisphere's new declaration of interdependence the brilliant new dawn of a splendid new world." Last week, Bush's two sons joined forces...

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer MIAMI - Officers and hundreds of demonstrators clashed Thursday near the site of talks to create a free trade zone for North and South America. Police blanketed downtown, remembering trade-related riots in other cities. Officers clad in riot gear used long batons to restrain protesters, some of whom wore surgical masks or bandannas across their mouths. Other demonstrators carried gas masks. Some tried to pull down restraining fences with large hooks. Meanwhile, AFL-CIO organizers planned a noontime rally that they said should include more than 10,000 protesters against the proposed 34-nation Free Trade Area...

Police arrested seven people this afternoon in a long-abandoned mansion in which officers said they found gas masks, crowbars and other suspicious items. Also this afternoon, police entered an independent media center at Bayside Marketplace. The intensified police activity came on the eve of major protests planned for Thursday and Friday against the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas now under discussion in downtown Miami. As many as 20,000 people are expected to march through Miami Thursday afternoon in a demonstration sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Police are concerned that more radical elements could attempt to infiltrate that march or...

Wednesday, November 19 Miami demonstrators deflated amid massive police showing By John Pacenti, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 19, 2003 MIAMI -- By the time the first organized demonstration wandered Tuesday into downtown Miami, police were more than ready to deflate it. A ragtag group of demonstrators intent on protesting the easing of tobacco tariffs at the Free Trade of the Americas conference found themselves under the gaze of a hovering police helicopter. They had brought with them a large inflatable cigarette pack, but authorities quickly took exception to the gasoline-powered generator the protesters wanted to use. So...

ARCADIA (Fla.) -- It is a sticky afternoon in mid-October and Kate Chanton, a freckle-faced New College senior in a baseball cap, is finishing a meal of meat substitute and vegan cake after a day of workshops on white privilege. Chanton, 20, is here at the Peace River Campground with a college comrade, Corinna Loomis, the daughter of "big-time hippies," she says, from Maine. Loomis, also 20, has spent the day learning how to build giant puppets, walk on stilts and design costumes for the protest demonstrations she and Chanton plan to attend with a group of 50 or so...

<p>Hundreds of anti-globalization activists kicked off demonstrations Sunday as representatives of 34 Western Hemisphere nations started talks on creating the world's largest free trade bloc.</p> <p>Aides to trade ministers were preparing for meetings scheduled to begin Thursday, when their bosses will try to create a framework for creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas. A business forum starts Monday.</p>

OUR OPINION: VISION OF A HEMISPHERIC FTAA IS A GOAL WORTH PURSUING Let's be clear. The pursuit of a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which continues in earnest this week in Miami, is an eminently worthwhile effort. But everyone should keep this much in mind: So far, there is no FTAA agreement. The Miami meeting is one in a long series of discussions. No one, not even negotiators, now knows what an FTAA might be in final form, nor should they state categorically what it will mean or do. We simply don't know. We can discuss FTAA goals and...

Click10.com FTAA Protesters Say They Are Already Targets Anarchists Say Police Are Harassing Them POSTED: 4:43 PM EST November 11, 2003 UPDATED: 6:16 PM EST November 11, 2003 MIAMI -- Some of the people who plan to protest during the Free Trade Area of the Americas conference next week are already in town -- and they say that police are already treating them unfairly. Many of the protesters told Channel 10 that they do call themselves anarchists, but they insist they are not violent. Because of their views of the FTAA, they consider themselves anti-globalists and human rights fighters. Dave...

Trade ministers will seek to fashion an accord out of discord and create a free-trade zone for the Americas -- and the challenge is daunting. Miami rolls out the red carpet next week for an international gathering of trade luminaries responsible for charting the creation of a free-trade zone that would cover the New World.Converging at this pivotal moment for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas will be trade ministers representing 34 nations, along with hundreds of aides and as many as 1,000 business executives, academics and analysts.Also expected are an estimated 20,000 protesters: environmentalists, trade-union members, consumer...

<p>WASHINGTON - Their mission to Miami already has begun. Some of the Pittsburgh Organizing Group -- known to the police as "The Padded Bloc" -- are on their way, linking up in Florida with the Pagan Cluster from New York City, former cell mates from D.C.'s Anti-Capitalist Convergence and the guerrilla gardeners of San Francisco's Killer Tomatoes.</p>