Arrests at Miami Trade Talks

[Guest guest]

This is interesting. It centers around lawyers.

 

8 Arrested, 4 Beaten at Miami Trade Talks

By CORALIE CARLSON

 

MIAMI (AP) - Eight legal observers sent to monitor Miami police during trade protests were arrested, and four were beaten by officers, their organization said Saturday as dozens of protesters were issued bond.

 

Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, said her group of legal observers had been targeted by police, a claim disputed by Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss.

 

``Legal observers would not be arrested if they were simply observers,'' Moss said. ``If they crossed the line and were actually to do something like pick up a rock or bottle and throw it, they would move from observer to criminal.''

 

Nearly 200 people were arrested during a week of demonstrations as trade ministers drafted a blueprint for free trade in the Western Hemisphere.

 

The lawyers guild identifies itself as a progressive bar association that pushes for civil liberties and the rights of workers and minorities.

 

Boghosian said about 60 neutral observers from the group, mostly law students and lawyers, wore neon green hats in an effort to distinguish themselves from protesters.

 

More than 50 jailed protesters appeared Saturday on misdemeanor charges including disobeying police orders to disperse and resisting arrest. Most were issued bonds from $100 to $1,000.

 

In another courtroom, Judge Alex Ferrer refused to reduce bond for five people arrested on felony charges, and ordered the bond court to rehear the cases of four others. The nine faced charges including possession of burglary tools and battery of a police officer.

 

In a letter sent Thursday to Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, the lawyers guild said police used indiscriminate, excessive force against hundreds of nonviolent protesters.

 

Police officials have maintained that their efforts kept protests from becoming more violent, and that protesters were given appropriate warning time to disperse before arrests were made.