Thursday at dusk, John DeLeon was driving on North Miami Avenue near 19th Street when he saw something that made him stop:

Cars were running over clothes, book bags, glasses and other items in the street. On the side of the road, DeLeon, an attorney working with the American Civil Liberties Union in Miami, saw a cellphone, a camera, more clothes, an African drum and other personal items.

He then joined a small group of students from a nearby adult vocational school in watching Miami-Dade police load 10 to 12 people -- mostly anti-FTAA protesters -- into a prisoner transport van. Police then drove away, and, according to DeLeon and the students, left the protesters' belongings behind.

"This is a clear violation of the law," DeLeon said.

Student Laura Rose, 27, said she saw police throw one protester's glasses in the street as they arrested him. "He was begging them to give him his glasses," she said.

Another student, Cleion Ramsey, 39, said he saw a policeman empty a book bag in the street. "A camera and some eyeglasses fell out and the police left them there," Ramsey said.

DeLeon picked up most of the belongings that were not destroyed and took them, in two large garbage bags, to The Herald on Friday. Among them were the purse and press credentials of Miami New Times staff writer Celeste Fraser Delgado, 36. She was arrested on charges of failing to obey a lawful command and resisting an officer without violence. She said she was trying to interview protesters.

On Thursday, as DeLeon was putting the belongings of Delgado and other protesters in his car, a young man walked up and said he had video footage, taken earlier in the day, of police arresting people at a spot nearby and also putting their belongings in the street.

In the video, which the ACLU gave to The Herald, Miami police officers chase and arrest about a dozen protesters and pile some of their belongings in the street. The police are seen leaving, with the items still in the street.

Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss said: "We don't tend to believe these stories about police dumping property unless there is solid evidence. We need to see the evidence."

Friday, protesters just out of jail trickled into Miami police headquarters asking about their belongings. When Elizabeth Ferguson, 17, of East Lansing, Mich., asked police Friday about her ID, credit cards and money, a sergeant said the city was in "a state of high alert" and told her to contact internal affairs. Another officer told her to come back Monday. "Now, without money, credit cards or IDs, I can get arrested for loitering over the weekend," she said.

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