FTAA Federal Lawsuit Challenges "Miami Model"

Miami Activist Defense (MAD) and National Lawyers Guild (NLG) attorneys
filed a lawsuit in federal court today accusing the City of Miami,
Mayors Diaz and Penelas, Police Chief Timoney, Homeland Defense
Secretary Ridge, US Attorney General Ashcroft and others of violating
people's Constitutional Rights during last November's FTAA protests and
implementing a plan to unlawfully arrest hundreds of people.Miami, FL - A civil lawsuit was filed today in federal court challenging
the "Miami model," a deliberate and coordinated effort by local, state
and federal "authorities" to silence dissent through an unwarranted use
of force and by unlawfully arresting hundreds of people engaging in
protests against a controversial trade agreement, the Free Trade Area of
the Americas (FTAA). Attorneys working with Miami Activist Defense (MAD)
and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) filed the lawsuit to stop the
"model" in its tracks so that it can no longer be used to restrict mass
protests around the country.

The Defendants named in the lawsuit, accused of First, Fourth, and Fifth
Amendment Rights violations, include the City of Miami, Mayors Manny
Diaz and Alex Penelas, Police Chief John Timoney, State Attorney
Katherine Fernandez-Rundle, Secretary of Homeland Defense Tom Ridge, US
Attorney General John Ashcroft. The lawsuit explains how these entities
and others engaged in an orchestrated plan to arrest people on baseless
charges and to hold them in preventive detention thereby prohibiting
First Amendment activity and violating the Fifth Amendment right to due
process.

"This lawsuit blows open the unlawful way in which police profiled and
targeted activists and people who were in Miami to protest the FTAA,"
said Carol Sobel, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild Mass
Defense Committee. "Anyone who fit the police description of being
anti-FTAA was subject to harassment, abuse, and unlawful arrest."

The lawsuit states that it "challenge[s] the mass false arrests of, and
unreasonable force against, lawful demonstrators during the recent
protests of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in November 2003
in Miami." It also conveys how "Law enforcement coordinated an all out
assault on the First Amendment, engaging in widespread political
profiling, and swept the streets of anyone viewed as being an anti-FTAA
activist, effectively suspending the Fourth Amendment in the city for
ten days."

The lawsuit challenges the local and state statutes used to arrest
hundreds of people as unconstitutional, as well as the way in which they
were used to illegally stifle mass protest. In essence, the lawsuit
challenges the legal justification for, and validity of, the hundreds of
arrests that took place during the FTAA.

"Every FTAA-related criminal case currently being prosecuted by the
State Attorney is a sham," said Kris Hermes of MAD. "It's time to stop
maliciously prosecuting people for their involvement in the FTAA
protests. Taxpayer money could certainly be put to better use."

Despite the millions of federal dollars used to implement the
coordinated campaign by law enforcement, illustrated in the lawsuit, and
the continuing expenditure to try cases, the State Attorney's fervent
efforts have yet to result in more than one misdemeanor conviction. Less
than half of the over two hundred cases remain.

The plaintiff group currently consists of 21 people, but is likely to
increase as more allegations become known and are added to the suit.
Plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief as well as financial damages
due to the numerous rights violations.

Counsel for the plaintiffs includes: Carol Sobel, Jonathan Moore, Mara
Verheyden-Hilliard, Carl Messineo of the NLG Mass Defense Committee;
Andrea Costello and Robert Ross are working with both MAD and the NLG.

Carol Sobel, NLG Attorney (310) 922-7001

Robert Ross, MAD & NLG Attorney (561) 251-4896

Kris Hermes, Miami Activist Defense (504) 945-9716

For an on-line version of the complaint filed in federal court today
see: www.stopftaa.org/legal.