The Miami free-trade summit— a 34-nation gathering— ended a day early and fell well short of Bush administration goals last week. Instead of creating the world’s largest free-trade zone, encompassing all of North America and South America, the U.S. will pursue side deals with individual countries. Meanwhile, Brazil and the U.S. postponed any settling of their disagreements. On the streets, police arrested well over 200. Head counts of protesters ranged from 8,000 to more than 25,000. Police Chief John Timoney, a finalist for the chief’s job in L.A., personally charged into crowds, cursing and manhandling demonstrators. His forces apparently disarmed a few would-be rock throwers. Officers also managed to throw down a group of seniors after firing rubber bullets and pepper spray. A 71-year-old retired airline pilot was cuffed with hands behind his back for seven and a half hours, then held in jail overnight. Veteran activist Tom Hayden brought down Harvard students to survey protesters, and, he reported, some of them were knocked down and cuffed too, and one officer pointed a gun at him. The overreaction, he wrote hopefully in an Internet posting, “may have radicalized a whole new generation of America’s future leaders.”

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.