While one contingent of FTAA protesters nudged their 34-mile protest march from Hollywood into northern Miami-Dade County late Monday, hundreds of backpacked arrivals continued to gather at a Miami Design District warehouse where round-the-clock planning was under way for large-scale demonstrations in downtown Miami later this week.

The march proceeded peacefully, law enforcement officials and protestors agreed. But a series of arrests in Miami and a pattern of alleged petty harassment by a ubiquitous police presence downtown set demonstrators on edge.

Nine protesters arrested thus far one in Lake Worth and eight in Miami have included a designated legal observer and a medic. Protesters claim that without being arrested they are being stopped, questioned and searched by police officers with no apparent cause.

These tactics are clearly unacceptable, said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Miami Activist Defense, the protesters legal group. Clearly, they are profiling activists who are exercising their First Amendment rights.

Authorities say they are simply applying standard law enforcement procedure in highly unusual circumstances. If officers see something suspicious they have an obligation to investigate, said Miami Police spokesman Delrish Moss. Simply because we re dealing with protesters doesn t suspend police duties. If there were a harassment campaign you d see a lot more people in custody than there are now.

The Root Cause People s march a coalition of farm worker and other activist groups originated in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday and has proceeded toward Miami without incident. Participants estimated their number at about 500; police gave a far lower figure, about 150-200.

The marchers were accompanied by a tag team of law enforcement that handed off responsibility for monitoring the demonstration as it passed from one jurisdiction to the next. Hollywood Police Capt. Tony Rode, in whose municipality Root Cause encamped Sunday night, described the group as fully cooperative and very peaceful a good indication.

But the police forces assembled in Miami under the direction of Miami Police Chief John Timoney expect trouble from some of the tens of thousands expected to demonstrate. Eight people have been arrested in Miami so far: three by county police last Tuesday for loitering and resisting arrest without violence, five by city police Saturday, charged with obstructing a sidewalk.

Michael Pitula, a member of the protesters medics corps, was rearrested Saturday in the vicinity of the Claude Pepper Federal Building downtown by Federal Protective Service officers, charged with disobeying a federal officer s order and violating federal signage.

His case will be the inaugural civil liberties defense effort in Miami by the Los Angeles-based law firm Sayre Chavez & De Leon, which has opened a South Miami office. Frederico Sayre was part of the Rodney King defense team; Hernando Chavez is the older son of farm worker leader Cesar Chavez; John De Leon is a past president of the Miami-Dade ACLU.

Law enforcement took an aggressive stance with journalists who witnessed other police action near the federal building. When several Federal Protective Service and Miami police officers detained two men for more than an hour, one officer yelled at a Daily Business Review photographer who was taking pictures at the scene.

The FPS officer ordered her to stop taking pictures, saying it was interfering with an investigation. The scene was not marked with police tape and the photographer was on a public sidewalk, 30 feet away.

Later Monday, a reporter who was taking notes while seated on a bus bench near the federal courthouse underwent questioning by the Federal Protective Service. The reporter was asked why he was there and was criticized for collecting sensitive information.

This kind of harassment began with the drafting of the new Miami protest ordinance, said Miami ACLU leader Lida Rodriguez-Taseff. Old statutes are being dusted off and applied specifically for this occasion to stifle dissent.

Protest leaders voiced criticisms at a Monday news conference at Miami City Hall, where Carlos McDonald, an aide to Mayor Manny Diaz, took note of their concerns and pledged to refer them to the mayor s attention.

In an interview, Miami City Attorney Alex Vilarello said he was unaware of any pattern of low-level harassment short of arrest by police. It s been suggested to me that that is going on, he said. If it is, I ll track it down.

Staff writer Oscar Musibay contributed to this report.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.