02/05 (UPI) By JANE SUTTON
   MIAMI (UPI) -- The City of Miami agreed Friday to pay $650,000 to
56 Haitians who accused city police of using excessive force during
arrests at an ethnically charged protest that began with an argument
over a pair of pants.
   The city did not admit guilt or liability in the judgment offer
that was approved Friday by U.S. District Judge Ursula
Ungaro-Benages.
   The attorney representing the city, Leon Firskin, declined to say
why the city agreed to the payment, except to say: "We felt it was
in the best interest of the city."
   Ira Kurzban, the attorney representing the Haitians, said the
judgment was "certainly recognition of the improper conduct" by
police.
   The money will go to 56 Haitians and Haitian Americans who were
arrested during a July 1990 demonstration outside the Rapid Transit
Factory Outlet.
   The city's own investigators with the Office of Professional
Compliance, accused the officers of using excessive force.
Videotapes of the arrests showed them hitting the protesters over
the head with their nightsticks, in violation of department policy.
   The nightsticks are supposed to be used "to sort of jab" and to
ward off attacks, Kurzban said.
   "They were using them in an aggresive manner, hitting people over
the head with them," he said. "They chose to basically attack the
demonstrators who were demonstrating peacefully."
   The incident began when a Haitian customer at the clothing store,
Abner Alezi, asked a store clerk to hem a pair of pants he had
bought there.
   Alezi and the Hispanic clerk got into a fight, and Alezi claimed
the store employees beat him and then unfairly had him arrested.
   When Alezi complained about his treatment on a Creole-language
radio station in Miami, about 1,000 Haitians staged a protest at the
shopping center where the store is located.
   The store owner was trapped inside by the throng and had to be
smuggled out a back door by police.
   Alezi's treatment was perceived as an insult to Miami's black
residents, who already were fuming over the Cuban-born mayor's
refusal to officially welcome South African black leader Nelson
Mandela during a visit a week earlier. Mandela was snubbed because
of his association with Cuban President Fidel Castro.
   The shopping center demonstrations continued peacefully for two
days, until police in riot gear finally moved in. Dozens of
protesters were arrested and 56 later sued, saying the officers used
excessive force against them even though they had offered no
resistance.
   The money will be divided among them according to the severity of
their injuries.
   "One had four teeth knocked out. Another still has blurred vision
and headaches," Kurzban said.