Thursday, December 20, 2007

Melee erupts over public housing proposed demolition in New Orleans

What is happening in New Orleans re public housing is a terrible travesty. Read the latest below taken from the blog Outside the Beltway. The police did not act in the interest of the people of New Orleans when they pepper sprayed and manhandled people who appeared to be waiting or trying to get into city hall. I believe not enough media attention is being directed toward the inside scoop on what is happening in New Orleans. We forget too soon.

SRaphael

taken from http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/12/new_orleans_to_

The New Orleans city council today defied protestors and voted unanimously to tear down the first of four remaining major housing projects in the city to make way for mixed-income housing that will accommodate some, but not all, of the pre-Katrina public housing population. Needless to say, the self-appointed community activists were displeased:

The scene outside New Orleans’ City Hall boiled on the brink of a riot Thursday as protesters stormed the gate and were met with police spraying mace and firing Tasers. Protesters broke through the gates outside City Hall shortly after 11 a.m.

A woman identified by bystanders as Jamie Bork Laughner, was sprayed and dragged away from the gates.

She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials on the scene. Before that, she was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping.

Another woman said she was stunned by officers, and still had what appeared to be a Taser wire hanging from her shirt.

“I was just standing, trying to get into my City Council meeting,” said the woman, Kim Ellis.

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