MIAMI - Amnesty International and civil rights groups are calling for an independent investigation of the police's handling of protests during last week's trade talks.

The demand came Wednesday, the day after the AFL-CIO accused officers of abusing protesters, arresting them without cause and denying them restrooms, water and phones.

A coalition called Save Our Civil Liberties demanded the removal and prosecution of Miami police Chief John Timoney, Miami-Dade police Chief Carlos Alvarez, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas. It also demanded that all charges against all demonstrators be dropped.

Miami police did not return several calls Wednesday seeking comment.

However, in a letter to the AFL-CIO released Wednesday, Timoney said his department will review the talks' security operation and write a public report. Timoney also defended his officers, saying they placed a priority on avoiding the use of force.

"I very much regret every occasion when police have to resort to force to overcome a violent attack," he wrote in the letter.

The protests turned sporadically violent in the final days of the Free Trade Area of the Americas talks. Some of the thousands of demonstrators threw objects and fired slingshots at officers; police hit protesters with batons, zapped them with stun guns and dispersed them with gas and sprays.

At a news conference, the groups showed videotape of protesters with bloody faces and officers in riot gear shooting a woman in the back with rubber bullets and chasing away a young man who was kneeling in silent prayer.

The footage, taken by about 30 journalists affiliated with the Independent Media Center, was not immediately released to the public. Four broadcast-quality video cameras were confiscated or broken, said Sara Kendall, one of the journalists.

"This was a paramilitary assault," said Naomi Archer, a spokeswoman for South Floridians for Fair Trade and Global Justice. "There has to be some accountability."

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