MIAMI -- Protest leaders complained Monday that police were harassing and targeting protesters and unsuccessfully demanded a meeting with the mayor to discuss their grievances.

Organizers alleged that police are videotaping them walking down the street or while giving media interviews, and say that officers have done illegal searches of protesters. Some also claimed government agencies were preventing them from obtaining housing for their stay in Miami.

``Miami police have taken a very aggressive stand against protesters who haven't even begun to protest,'' said Max Rameau, who is working with Root Cause, a coalition of local anti-globalization groups.

Protesters began arriving in Miami this past weekend in preparation for demonstrations against the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. Thousands are expected to rail against the trade talks during protests on Thursday and Friday, saying the agreement would be detrimental to workers, the environment and smaller countries.

Miami city police arrested five protesters Monday, but three of the arrests were later voided by a commanding officer who reviewed the charges, said police spokesman Lt. Bill Schwartz. The two remaining arrestees are facing disorderly conduct charges for urinating in public.

``It's certainly not something we want to tolerate on the streets of our city,'' Schwartz said.

Five demonstrators were also arrested Saturday by Miami police for allegedly blocking a sidewalk and three people were arrested last week by Miami-Dade County police on charges of loitering and resisting arrest.

``None of these guys are part of the mythological 2 percent that cops say they are protecting us from,'' said Henry Harris, a legal observer.

But Miami Police Chief John Timoney said officers are only arresting those who are breaking the law.

``The notion these are pre-emptive arrests is ridiculous,'' he said.

About 150 protesters who left Broward County Sunday on a 34-mile march -- one mile for each country in the proposed agreement -- were planning to arrive in downtown Miami on Tuesday.

On Miami Beach, about a dozen protesters stripped down to their underwear outside the Gap clothing store before being threatened with arrest if they removed any more clothing.

The protesters, who allege Gap uses sweatshops to make its popular clothes, chanted ``We'd rather wear nothing than Gap.'' No one was arrested.

The City Hall confrontation started as a police helicopter buzzed overhead. The protesters wanted a meeting with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, and after an angry exchange with his scheduler, who asked someone to leave a name and telephone number, they left.

``Democracy in action,'' said a sarcastic Lisa Fithian, with United for Peace and Justice, an anti-war group. ``Welcome to Miami.''

Diaz was not at City Hall Monday because he was tending to FTAA-related matters, said his spokeswoman, Kelly Penton, who added that Diaz would not ``deny a meeting for no good reason.''

``It's a matter of scheduling. ... People have to understand that the mayor's a busy man,'' Penton said. ``You can't show up at his office and expect a meeting that same day.''

Timoney, who spent Monday driving around downtown in a golf cart to oversee the preparations, rejected protesters claims that they are being harassed.

``It's nonsense,'' he said. ``We are allowed to make sure this city is safe. We are fully within our rights to observe people and groups of people.''

He noted that protesters are videotaping police, too.

"It's a game of cat and mouse," Timoney said.

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