Gatherers arrested outside Miami courthouse, include Democracy Now reporter

MIAMI, FL. The day following the demonstrations against the FTAA, a gathering outside the downtown Miami courthouse where more than 150 protesters were kept led to the forceful dispersion and the arrest of legal observers, journalists, and friends and family members of protesters, as well as physical injuries inflicted by police. In one incident, about 30 people were arrested between NW 12 Ave and 14th Street, as they followed police orders to disperse. A journalist was among those arrested as he stood with several members of the media to cover the activities outside the courthouse.

Todd Alan Price, National College of Education Chicago and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, and journalist with Democracy Now, TV-WYOU and print-based Capital Times of Madison, says that he was wrongly thrown in jail for nearly 24 hours and slapped with the misdemeanor of unlawful assembly as he was working in a visibly identifiable group of media.

He affirms that police instigated the skirmish in front of the courthouse building, specifically in an incident related to protestors with anti-police brutality signs. “Someone got beaten up by the cops. Some altercation set them off.” Furthermore, the group of gatherers had become sizeable, as legal defense teams attempted to gain more information about the arrestees.

Police suddenly announced that the crowd was an “unlawful assembly” (Price wonders, “How can the media be an unlawful assembly?”). Within less than a minute, police pushed forcefully into the group of people. Members of the media directly got off the street, but found themselves trapped between a large fence and an approaching frontline of police as they tried to escape. Once the order had been given, Price says, “Everyone moved.” Witnesses say that police grabbed, kicked, and pepper-sprayed people attempting to leave the premises.

The media, consisting of both mainstream and independent journalists, were clearly on the opposite side of the street from the people in solidarity. When he saw police throwing a young man against the fence, collapsing the fence altogether, Price and the other reporters looked for an escape, but realized that there was no opening to leave.

A police officer approached Price from behind and told him to get on the ground. Price and several other people being detained cooperated. They were then crammed into poorly ventilated police vans and remained there for long stretches of time. The booking process took longer than 10 hours, and was performed in a converted metro station that some arrestees called “Guantanamo.” Police officers seemed purposefully deliberate as they ate barbeque and relaxed in full view of the arrestees. They were especially aggressive toward minors, some as young as 16, and those who wished to engage in jail solidarity tactics. “They isolated people and played good cop/bad cop, telling one kid, ‘Just think about it, you’ll be dead white meat while I’m comfortable at home in my bed.’”

Nick Robinson, a 22-year old activist from Cincinnati, Ohio, among another group arrested, tells a nearly identical story. Robinson and about ten other people were more than three blocks away from the courthouse, the area police deemed “unlawful assembly,” when without any warning or prior notification they were surrounded, restrained and arrested by police. When Robinson asked what he was being charged with, the officer arresting him appeared not to know why they were arresting him and the other people. After communicating with other officers, possibly superiors, the officer told Robinson that the protesters were being charged with “unlawful assembly, but if it were up to me, I’d just given you a warning.” Robinson says that there were about ten people being arrested together. All of them were put in solitary confinement. Citing personal reasons Robinson made a plea agreement and was released after more than ten hours in solitary, but he says that the vast majority of those arrested with him pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Price and Robinson both confirm that all those arrested with them were put in solitary confinement. They were given about four slices of bread and two slices of cheese each over a nearly 24-hour period. They knew a bail hearing had to occur within 24 hours, otherwise, those arrested were given no details whatsoever about the possible length of their detainment. One arrestee with asthma was denied his aspirator for three hours while the device was “authorized.” Nearly one half of arrestees were denied their right to a phone call. Similar to Price’s account, Robinson says that police especially took to taunting younger arrestees in what he calls verbal abuse. “They cornered one kid and threatened him, ‘You piece of shit... we’re gonna put a gun to your temple.’ They obviously didn’t, but since they had guns on their bodies, it was pretty scary. The kid just started crying.”

At least two legal observers who were working as legal defense during the gathering were arrested. Overall, observers estimate that police arrested roughly the same number of people outside the courthouse than were arrested during the actual anti-FTAA demonstrations. “The guys who arrested us seemed like they were venting their anger,” says Robinson. “It seemed like they were really pissed off that they hadn’t arrested more people at the protest.”