Four anti-globalization protesters and a legal observer were arrested Saturday on a downtown Miami street corner and charged with ''obstruction of free passage on sidewalks,'' a little-used city ordinance.

Those arrested were among the thousands of protesters who are expected to take to the streets of downtown Miami this week to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas ministerial meeting.

The five were held in detention Saturday afternoon at an undisclosed location for ''security reasons,'' police said. They were released late Saturday, according to protest organizer Dave Meddle.

The arrests took place about noon on the corner of East Flagler Street and Northeast Second Avenue.

They were immediately denounced by protest groups and civil libertarians, who for weeks had been meeting with local officials to establish ground rules.

''If this is evidence of what the police mean by respecting people's rights, we don't believe they're acting in good faith,'' said Andrea Costello, a lawyer with Miami Activists Defense.

Costello noted police had written ''FTAA related'' in the upper right hand corner of several of the arrest reports.

''I believe people are being targeted right now in the city of Miami for their political beliefs,'' Costello said. ``And the last time I checked, that wasn't a crime.''

According to police reports, the five identified themselves as Christopher Fletcher, Henry Harris, Paul D. Bame, William A. Charles and Farah Fosse. Police believe at least some of the names are false.

Police say the four protesters were approached by officers on bicycles because they were allegedly creating a safety hazard.

''They were blocking the sidewalk to the point that pedestrians could not pass and had to step into the street to get around these people,'' said Lt. Bill Schwartz, Miami police spokesman.

Schwartz said the four protesters were interfering with police on the other side of the street, who had stopped a man they suspected was mentally unstable. He said the man was not affiliated with demonstrators.

''They were warned they could be arrested, and they said there's no law against standing on the sidewalks,'' Schwartz said. ``But there is, as you can see from the ordinance.''

Schwartz added that Sgt. James Sayih, the supervising officer, felt activists behaved ``as if they wanted to be arrested.''

He said they were given three warnings.

Anti-FTAA organizers have a different version of events, calling the arrests ``trumped up.''

They say police were attempting to search an anti-trade activist passing out leaflets on the opposite side of the street, but let him go when the other four protesters came to his defense.

The fifth person arrested, Harris, was a legal observer who arrived later to monitor police conduct.

Harris was wearing a bright green cap so police could identify him as a ''neutral observer,'' protest organizers said.

Neither Harris nor the four activists could be reached for comment.

At a small warehouse in the 2300 block of North Miami Avenue that protesters are using as a staging area, David Meieran, a spokesman for the Stop FTAA media team, decried the arrests.

''Whether it's coordinated or not, clearly there's a pattern of people being intimidated and harassed for being here and exercising their rights to protest free trade,'' Meieran said.

Elsewhere in South Florida:

• Some 750 teamsters held an impassioned rally in Markham Park in Broward County. Jeff Farmer, the director of organizing for the Teamsters, said the FTAA lacks provisions to protect workers. ''We can't let the future slide down the tubes,'' he said.

``Of course we have to trade with the world, but we also have to respect the workers and respect the environment.''

• The League of Women Voters of Broward County hosted a forum attended by about 50 people and moderated by Herald business reporter Jane Bussey.

''We need rules for corporations who are searching the globe for the cheapest labor,'' said Thea Lee, trade specialist for the AFL-CIO, who argued that the FTAA would do almost nothing to protect human rights, workers' rights and the environment.

Speaking in defense of the plan was Eric P. Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas.

He said it's part of an overall development strategy for the Americas, a ''tool'' that needs to be examined in the proper context.

Herald staff writers Susannah Nesmith, Sara Olkon and Jennifer Lebovich also contributed to this report.

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