By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS- About 50 protesters on Monday walked across a bridge over the Mississippi River under police escort, recreating the attempted exodus of residents who were turned back by police when they tried to flee to a neighboring town after Hurricane Katrina struck.
In the days after the deadly storm, residents who had taken shelter inside the convention center, along with others who were forced to leave hotels, were told to evacuate the city by the Crescent City Connection, a bridge leading to the suburb of Gretna across the Mississippi River.
But after a 2.5 mile (4 kilometers) walk in sweltering heat across the bridge, they were turned back by armed police from Gretna, a town of 17,500 residents, two-thirds of whom are white. The incident sparked accusations of racism against the Gretna police chief for ordering the bridge blockade that turned back desperate New Orleans residents, many of whom are black.
During Monday’s protest march on the bridge, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, the march leader, called out as the protesters passed the first exit in the city of Gretna.
“They said we wouldn’t do it,” he said. “They said we wouldn’t do it. We did it. We did it.”
New Orleans police had initially told the protesters that they would be arrested if they attempted to cross the bridge, but the police on Monday told demonstrators they would be offered safe passage.
Capt. Marlon Defillo, a police spokesman, said police wanted to “allow them an opportunity to voice their opinion.”
Many of the protesters were from out-of-town civil rights organizations.
Malik Rahim, a New Orleans resident, said he was pleased to see the outsiders supporting the march.
“How can you expect people right now from New Orleans, after what they’ve gone through, come here and participate in a march,” he said.