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Many
of the evacuees, who had been stranded at the New Orleans
convention center without food and water, said they
were told to cross the bridge to be evacuated from the
city. But Gretna police confronted them on the bridge
and forced them to turn around.
Police
later said they blocked the evacuees because there were
no supplies or services for them on the other side of
the river.
The
case raised widespread allegations of racism and spurred
two marches across the bridge by national civil rights
organizations in the months after the hurricane.
Orleans
Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan plans to present
the results of a state attorney general's investigation
to a grand jury. Jordan has declined to reveal any details
of the report.
Gretna
Police Chief Arthur Lawson has acknowledged that his
officers fired shots into the air during the blockade
in an attempt to quell what he described as unrest among
the evacuees.
The
American Civil Liberties Union has been pressing state
Attorney General Charles Foti to make his investigative
report public. Louisiana ACLU executive director Joe
Cook said Friday he was disappointed that the report
had not been released.
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