Home > New Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes

New Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes

by Open-Publishing - Friday 2 September 2005
24 comments

Edito Governments Catastrophes USA

By ALLEN G. BREED

New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday, as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out and storm survivors battled for seats on the buses that would carry them away from the chaos. The tired and hungry seethed, saying they had been forsaken.

"I’m not sure I’m going to get out of here alive," said Canadian tourist Larry Mitzel, who handed a reporter his business card in case he goes missing. "I’m scared of riots. I’m scared of the locals. We might get caught in the crossfire."

Four days after Hurricane Katrina roared in with a devastating blow that inflicted potentially thousands of deaths, the frustration, fear and anger mounted, despite the promise of 1,400 National Guardsmen a day to stop the looting, plans for a $10 billion recovery bill in Congress and a government relief effort President Bush called the biggest in U.S. history.

New Orleans’ top emergency management official called that effort a "national disgrace" and questioned when reinforcements would actually reach the increasingly lawless city.

About 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at New Orleans convention center grew increasingly hostile after waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead. Police Chief Eddie Compass said there was such a crush around a squad of 88 officers that they retreated when they went in to check out reports of assaults.

"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."

A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away.

In hopes of defusing the situation at the convention center, Mayor Ray Nagin gave the refugees permission to march across a bridge to the city’s unflooded west bank for whatever relief they could find. But the bedlam made that difficult.

"This is a desperate SOS," Nagin said in a statement. "Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don’t anticipate enough buses."

At least seven bodies were scattered outside the convention center, a makeshift staging area for those rescued from rooftops, attics and highways. The sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement.

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

"I don’t treat my dog like that," 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair.

"You can do everything for other countries, but you can’t do nothing for your own people," he added. "You can go overseas with the military, but you can’t get them down here."

The street outside the center, above the floodwaters, smelled of urine and feces, and was choked with dirty diapers, old bottles and garbage.

"They’ve been teasing us with buses for four days," Edwards said. "They’re telling us they’re going to come get us one day, and then they don’t show up."

Every so often, an armored state police vehicle cruised in front of the convention center with four or five officers in riot gear with automatic weapons. But there was no sign of help from the National Guard.

At one point the crowd began to chant "We want help! We want help!" Later, a woman, screaming, went on the front steps of the convention center and led the crowd in reciting the 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd ..."

"We are out here like pure animals," the Issac Clark said.

"We’ve got people dying out here - two babies have died, a woman died, a man died," said Helen Cheek. "We haven’t had no food, we haven’t had no water, we haven’t had nothing. They just brought us here and dropped us."

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "’Go to hell - it’s every man for himself.’"

"This is just insanity," she said. "We have no food, no water ... all these trucks and buses go by and they do nothing but wave."

At the hot and stinking Superdome, where 30,000 were being evacuated by bus to the Houston Astrodome, fistfights and fires erupted amid a seething sea of tense, suffering people who waited in a lines that stretched a half-mile to board yellow school buses.

After a traffic jam kept buses from arriving for nearly four hours, a near-riot broke out in the scramble to get on the buses that finally did show up, with a group of refugees breaking through a line of heavily armed National Guardsmen.

One military policeman was shot in the leg as he and a man scuffled for the MP’s rifle, police Capt. Ernie Demmo said. The man was arrested.

Some of those among the mostly poor crowd had been in the dome for four days without air conditioning, working toilets or a place to bathe. An ambulance service airlifting the sick and injured out of the Superdome suspended flights as too dangerous after it was reported that a bullet was fired at a military helicopter.

"If they’re just taking us anywhere, just anywhere, I say praise God," said refugee John Phillip. "Nothing could be worse than what we’ve been through."

By Thursday evening, 11 hours after the military began evacuating the Superdome, the arena held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn. National Guard Capt. John Pollard said evacuees from around the city poured into the Superdome and swelled the crowd to about 30,000 because they believed the arena was the best place to get a ride out of town.

As he watched a line snaking for blocks through ankle-deep waters, New Orleans’ emergency operations chief Terry Ebbert blamed the inadequate response on the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"This is not a FEMA operation. I haven’t seen a single FEMA guy," he said. He added: "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans."

FEMA officials said some operations had to be suspended in areas where gunfire has broken out.

Displaced residents also expressed anger at government officials.

"All I want to say to Mayor Ray Nagin is thank you for helping us," Yolanda McZeal, 43, said calmly, sarcastically and bitterly. "Governor Blanco, thank you for helping us. President Bush, thank you for helping us."

A day after Nagin took 1,500 police officers off search-and-rescue duty to try to restore order in the streets, there were continued reports of looting, shootings, gunfire and carjackings - and not all the crimes were driven by greed.

When some hospitals try to airlift patients, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan said, "there are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, `You better come get my family.’"

Outside a looted Rite-Aid drugstore, some people were anxious to show they needed what they were taking. A gray-haired man who would not give his name pulled up his T-shirt to show a surgery scar and explained that he needs pads for incontinence.

"I’m a Christian. I feel bad going in there," he said.

Earl Baker carried toothpaste, toothbrushes and deodorant. "Look, I’m only getting necessities," he said. "All of this is personal hygiene. I ain’t getting nothing to get drunk or high with."

While floodwaters in the city appeared to stabilize, efforts continued to plug three breaches that had opened up in the levee system that protects this below-sea-level city.

Helicopters dropped sandbags into the breach and pilings were being pounded into the mouth of the canal Thursday to close its connection to Lake Pontchartrain, state Transportation Secretary Johnny Bradberry said. He said contractors had completed building a rock road to let heavy equipment roll to the area by midnight.

The next step called for using about 250 concrete road barriers to seal the gap.

In Washington, the White House said Bush will tour the devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims.

The president urged a crackdown on the lawlessness.

"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this - whether it be looting, or price gouging at the gasoline pump, or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud," Bush said. "And I’ve made that clear to our attorney general. The citizens ought to be working together."

Donald Dudley, a 55-year-old New Orleans seafood merchant, complained that when he and other hungry refugees broke into the kitchen of the convention center and tried to prepare food, the National Guard chased them away.

"They pulled guns and told us we had to leave that kitchen or they would blow our damn brains out," he said. "We don’t want their help. Give us some vehicles and we’ll get ourselves out of here!"

Associated Press reporters Adam Nossiter, Brett Martel, Robert Tanner and Mary Foster contributed to this report.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c...

Forum posts

  • I just wanted to mention, that America is ALWAYS there when there are natural disasters in other parts of the world. Where is ANY other part of the world for the American victims of Katrina now?

    • http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=7980

      Aid Offers Will Be Accepted From Countries

      By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

      In a dramatic turnabout, the United States is now on the receiving end of help from around the world as some two dozen countries offer post-hurricane assistance.

      Venezuela, a target of frequent criticism by the Bush administration, offered humanitarian aid and fuel. Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged a $1 million donation for hurricane aid.

      The United Nations informed U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton it was prepared to support the relief effort "in any way possible." Under Secretary-General Jan Egeland said his office had offered the services of the U.N.’s disaster assistance and coordination teams to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

      Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent a letter to President Bush offering hundreds of doctors, nurses, technicians and other experts in trauma, natural disasters and public health.

      "We also offer field hospitals, medical kits and equipment for temporary housing, reinforcement for hospitals, or any assistance that you may require," Sharon wrote.

      He said the teams and equipment could be ready in 24 hours.

      With offers from the four corners of the globe pouring in, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has decided "no offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted area will be refused," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.

      However, in Moscow, a Russian official said the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency had rejected a Russian offer to dispatch rescue teams and other aid.

      On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to Bush and said Russia was prepared to help if asked.

      Boats, aircraft, tents, blankets, generators, cash assistance and medical teams have been offered to the U.S. government in Washington or in embassies overseas.

      Offers have been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States, the spokesman said.

      Still, Bush told ABC-TV: "I’m not expecting much from foreign nations because we hadn’t asked for it. I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country’s going to rise up and take care of it."

      "You know," he said, "we would love help, but we’re going to take care of our own business as well, and there’s no doubt in my mind we’ll succeed. And there’s no doubt in my mind, as I sit here talking to you, that New Orleans is going to rise up again as a great city."

      Historically, the United States provides assistance to other countries experiencing earthquakes, floods and other disasters.

      Germany, which was rebuilt after World War II largely by the U.S. Marshall Plan, offered its help in a telephone call to Rice.

      "The German Government is prepared to do all that is humanly possible," the German embassy said. In his call, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer assured Rice of Germany’s solidarity with its American friends in a difficult time, the embassy said.

      Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon called Wednesday at the State Department to offer condolences and assistance. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid, about $2.2 billion a year.

      "The hearts and prayers of Israel’s people are with the people of the United States and the many millions who are suffering in the regional devastation resulting from hurricane Katrina," the Israeli embassy said in a statement.

    • WE HAS PISSED THEM OFF STUPID

    • This is very welcome news. It’s very nice to read some good news on this site for a change.

    • Bush made it clear he doesn’t need help from no one

    • perhaps a little research before judgement?

    • I stand corrected, thank you for the article. I guess since Bush, FEMA and the National Guard took their sweet time to get those people help the rest of the world did not realize how desperately it was needed.

      Also I just read on msnbc.com that a school in Austria is offering to take 500 students from the colleges that were destroyed.

    • For the poster that said the following:

      "I just wanted to mention, that America is ALWAYS there when there are natural disasters in other parts of the world. Where is ANY other part of the world for the American victims of Katrina now"

      Man, you have no idea how make-believe your statement is. America is only there when it serves its purpose... America was not there for Bam, Iran; or in Algeria; or Sri Lanka... But were there in Indoasia only because it served it purpose for expansion of Empire. If you do not believe me, go and read the statements of Powell and Condi Rice from that time and their visits.

      You (the poster) MUST be a White American... Hehehe...

  • N. O. look like an ethnical cleansing like: get rid of the black and the poor. Let them wait in a polluted area and let them wading through feeces! Coincidence? We doubt?

    This is a cause for the U. N. security council - human rights are at stake!

    • How much have you personally contributed to the relief effort?

    • Shooting and looting...

      Rapes and robberies.....

      The people need help, so what do they get, 1,400 men with guns.

      Nuclear powered aircraft carriers, but no rubber dinghies.

      Cruise missiles, but inadequate rescue choppers.

      600 bodyguards for the president, no fresh water for the children.

      I could go on, but then again, there are so many Iraqui families who have no homes, no fathers, no hope, no future.....

    • First posting ’’I just wanted to mention, that America is ALWAYS there when there are natural disasters in other parts of the world.’’

      LOL !! Usually very reticent to help, a derisory initial amount offered in the wake of the Asian tsunami, less than the cost of one cruise missile.
      You can guarantee the US is always there at the start of any UNatural disasters though.

    • absolutly nothing,how much money was spent invading iraq you are the richest country in the world you do not need aid money from other countries

    • I noticed the the Israeli ambassador didn’t offer any monetary support for the people of New Orleans. America should stop all foreign aid, especially aid to Israel. Then there may be money for situations like this. Why would a debtor nation give money to other countries when people need it here? Maybe part of it is funneled back to our crooked politicians.

    • Maybe ? How much proof do we need? God they couldn’t be more blatant, the oil barons are all in control of the government jobs and they are all rolling in the profits of their price fixing and supply fixing...essential commodities like oil should be controlled by the government. Some of the tax monies being squandered in Iraq should instead be used to build some new refineries for hell sake. How can these oil contries be allowed to make billions per day and then have the gall to tell us we have to pay more because their refineries are ancient and broken down....Assholes, have they heard of building some new ones? No, it would take away their favorite excuse for gouging the hell out of us all, and the oil fat cats in the White house can’t wipe the smiles off of their faces nor stop lying to us all.

    • Less than the cost of one cruise missile??? Where did you get that? Not only did we send millions of dollars to aid the Tsunami we sent people to help as well.

    • If you are talking to me... I donated $100.00 to the Red Cross. I donated $50 to the ASPCA to aid the stranded pets. I have asked my boyfriend to donate $500.00 on behalf of his company.
      Can I afford that? Only because I was saving up to buy a desk, as it is now I do my homework on the floor and I guess doing my homework on the floor is a small inconvenience compared to what those people are going through.

    • Contributing money to this disaster will only reduce the government’s debt. The more debt this country gets into the sooner it will sink....but the best thing is that they can not afford another war against innocent people. I hope it breaks the back of the corrupt system, and soon.

    • The initial offer was less than $1 000 000, less than the cost of a cruise missile. It was the next day, due to shock and ridicule from the global community, that the offer was increased. It’s in the Republican nature not to help poor people, to let them die, especially if they’re not white. No secret.

    • This is Bush’s way of getting rid of Blacks. That way, he doesn’t have to do anything. I’m sure that many in his administration feel the same way. It sure didn’t happen this way in Florida.

  • This disaster shows where the government’s real interest lies. It lies with power and wealth and not with the people. The government knew this hurricane, Katrina, was headed for New Orleans and did not plan ahead. They, the government, did not put the interest of the people first. It doesn’t matter what color people are only that they are represented by the government. The ONLY purpose of the Federal Government is to make sure that our rights are not violated and that our border are secured. Does anyone see this happening?

    • The government uses a natural diaster like this and makes it wourse 100 time fold on porpous. The reason is that they can increase their powers. And show all of America that martial law is absolutely necassary to prevent the carnage that we have witnessed. Were the power to the water pumps cut off by the storm or were they cut off on porpous? to create a diaster 100 times worse than it had to be. Why does the media only show black looters and not white looters. They promote division between whites and blacks. devide and conquer. This creates racial hatred and diverts attenion to the real terrorist coming from are own government. The real murderers of 9-11 are in D.C. Martial law will eventually cover all of America. All the Neo "natzis" cons need is anouther government sponsored terrorist attack. several 9-11 type attacks. And the American public will beg for martial law. THE NEW WORLD ORDER.

  • not REFUGEES...go lookup definition of
    REFUGEES at www.dictionary.com

    One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.

    Please tell me where you definition of refugees comes from???

  • Again,
    President Bush waited at his plece in Texas, then flew over the area, on his way back to Washington, DC. Itr wasn’t important enough for him, to stop, on his way back. He has to talk with his henchmen, before he can make a decision. It’s a shame, that Americans have to endure this kind of leadership, in their own country. It shows you, that he is not in touch with poor people, only, the rich ones.
    Shame...Shame...Shame