Protesters cross the Mississippi River

Depending on the source, there were "a couple of dozen" (New Orleans United Radio Broadcasters) or eighty (New Orleans Times-Picayune) protesters marching across the Crescent City Connection yesterday to protest the turning back of evacuees from Gretna during Hurricane Katrina. The evacuees had been told by New Orleans maor Ray Nagin that there were buses on the other side of the river that would take them to safety.

Joined by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and representatives of national organizations, the marchers were originally told by NOPD members that they would be peaceably arrested for civil disobedience, but later, the police changed their minds and told the protesters to just go ahead and march.

Gretna officials maintain that they could not let the evacuees cross over into Jefferson Parish because there was nowhere for them to go, and no food and water to give them. There were also safety concerns--a police officer had been shot, and looters had already crossed over and set fire to the West Bank's Oakwood Mall. The protesters point out that the evacuees were African American, and that forcing them back to the east side of the river was blatantly racist.