Clouds of tear gas hung in the air over Biscayne Boulevard on Thursday as riot police unleashed an arsenal of weaponry to disperse unruly demonstrators and end a long day of protest that ultimately did not erupt into the widespread spasm of violence that many feared.

In a late afternoon clash with about 1,000 protesters, heavily armed police set off concussion grenades, wielded batons and stun guns, and fired rubber bullets before skillfully herding many of the stragglers six blocks from the designated protest zone toward the police station, where many were arrested.

"We're locking them up, piecemeal," said Miami Police Chief John Timoney, who spent the day in shorts and polo shirt riding with a bicycle patrol. "We'll try to do as many arrests as we can. If we don't lock 'em up tonight, we'll lock 'em up tomorrow."

After a decision late Thursday by ministers at the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting to wrap up discussions a day earlier than scheduled, many protesters were unsure if there would be a tomorrow. Asked what was planned for today, anti-FTAA activist Adam Hurter replied, "I honestly do not know."

Police officials credited months of planning and an overwhelming show of force for creating a climate in which most in a crowd estimated at about 10,000 were able to peacefully express their opposition to the FTAA.

But others charged police with creating a climate of fear and intimidation that held down the number of demonstrators willing to come to Miami, and frightened many others who did come. AFL-CIO officials charged that police held up 87 busloads of union members, preventing them from getting to the afternoon rally on time.

"This is outrageous," said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, president of the Miami chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The cops are pumped up and primed for battle."

Grass-roots organizer Lisa Fithian charged police with "a huge overreaction. It's completely unnecessary provocation."

By nightfall, at least 74 people had been arrested after a series of skirmishes with police that began soon after dawn and continued through the day.

At least six protesters and three police officers were treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital for minor injuries, according to spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson.

Others were treated on the streets. Workers at a "wellness center" staffed by FTAA opponents said several people inhaled tear gas and many others nursed welts from rubber bullets.

Thursday evening, many out-of-towners were abandoning the Miami Avenue warehouse that a coalition of protest groups had been using all week at a staging area and puppet factory.

It was evident early on that most FTAA opponents had no desire to clash with police. But small groups of black-shirted anarchists and other protesters who did seek confrontations found they were no match for thousands of officers from some 40 state, local and federal agencies who barricaded intersections, parked imposing tanks and water cannon on city streets and moved quickly to squash trouble.

The most serious skirmishes of the day broke out about 3:45 p.m., at the end of a scheduled march through downtown when about 150 demonstrators began taunting a phalanx of several hundred officers holding the crowd three blocks north of the FTAA negotiations at the InterContinental Hotel.

As thousands of union members boarded buses for the ride home or to hotels, protesters set two small trash fires, triggering an advance by ranks of police. As police advanced to the thudding beat of their batons on their shields, demonstrators were herded west and north on a zig-zag course that for many ended near the front door of the Miami police station.

At least three fleeing protesters ran into Miami's Overtown neighborhood. When the men tried to set fires in two dumpsters, they were approached by several residents, including one who whacked one of the protesters on the back with a 2-by-4.

Outside the area where demonstrators were permitted, much of downtown Miami looked abandoned. Shops and businesses were closed and shuttered. The downtown Metromover was shut down. The Overtown Metrorail station was closed.

Backup squads of police were massed in staging areas outside the city center, waiting for calls that never came.

"We expected protesters to drop 55-gallon steel drums in the street," said Lt. Jorge Gomez, 40, a member of a special Miami police team trained to respond to any unusual disruptive tactics. "I think they [protesters] were overwhelmed."

The day that police had been bracing for started early when several hundred protesters armed with puppets and drums showed up at Miami-Dade's government center.

About 9 a.m., police blocking off side-street access to Biscayne Boulevard stepped aside and the first three protesters skipped past into what became virtual bullpens for demonstrators, encircled by hundreds of police dressed in black riot gear. "Throw down your badges. Denounce the state. Join the love," shouted one of the early arrivals to the police.

While many demonstrators proceeded as directed onto Biscayne Boulevard, a few resisted. Police confronted a small band of young people on Flagler Street, using their batons to steer them eastward. When several people in the group resisted, police pushed harder. When one of the front-line officers suddenly found his helmet and face mask covered in white foam that looked like shaving cream, police unleashed a jet of pepper spray that momentarily scattered the group.

Moments later, during another skirmish, police wrestled one protester to the pavement and held him down with a shield. Blood flowed from the heads of at least two young men struck by police batons.

By late morning, several thousand demonstrators had been funneled into the protest area on Biscayne Boulevard between Northeast Second and Third streets. The famed four-lane street, the setting for the annual Orange Bowl parade, quickly took on the appearance of a counter-culture pedestrian mall.

One group performed street theater to the beat of drums. The Socialist Workers' Party set up an information table and handed out literature.

To get to Biscayne Boulevard, trade unionists, retirees and young people with faces covered by black bandanas navigated a maze of downtown Miami streets that took them by hundreds of shuttered shops and businesses, many closed for the week in anticipation of trouble.

"I think they're overreacting here," said David Hall, a 63-year-old union glazier from Vero Beach. "It seems like paranoia to me."

But his walking partner, Bruce Bernstein, a pipe fitter from Boynton Beach, said he understood the heavy police presence. "They saw what happened in Seattle," he said, "and they don't want it to happen here."

A permitted afternoon protest march from Biscayne Boulevard through a two-mile loop of downtown was uneventful. With police leading the way, representatives of labor unions, farm laborers, animal rights groups and Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich paraded through the deserted streets shouting anti-FTAA slogans, including "FTAA, you won't take our jobs away."

Local union President Nancy Smith, 58, said she traveled from Gary, Ind., to express her fears that the trade agreement would send jobs out of the country. But after marching in the violent 1999 Seattle protests, and after three days in Miami, her time on the streets may be over.

"We have a lot of energetic young people out there," she said. "It's time for them [to take over]."

Staff Writers Milton D. Carrero Galarza, Ann W. O'Neill, Tanya Weinberg, Noaki Schwartz, Edgar Sandoval, Akilah Johnson, Vicky Agnew, Christy McKerney and Madeline Baró Diaz contributed to this report.

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