Occupy New Orleans gathered at noon in front of Orleans Parish Prison at Tulane and Broad yesterday, then marched peacefully (though boisterously) downtown to Lafayette Square across from the Federal Reserve building.
Later, members gathered for a General Assembly and occupation of Duncan Plaza across from City Hall, newly unfenced after the eviction of a homeless camp that sprung up after the flood of 2005.
The media's crowd estimates varied from WWL radio's absurd 100 to 400 in the Times-Picayune. By section-and-multiply by block, I came up with a number somewhere between one and two thousand. Probably closer to one. People with better skills can attempt a rough count from the video clip below.
The crowd was enthusiastic, though the message was muddled, thanks to a handful of Ron Paul fanatics (booed whenever they took over the megaphone) and, as the T-P put it:
the usual gadflies and familiar faces from City Council meetings and other public arenas. They shouted for the New Orleans police chief's ouster, decried the parish prison, deplored police brutality.
College students, visitors, anarchists, Marxists, socialists and adherents to other ideologies turned out. One gentleman wore a placard with a photo of legendary Louisiana Gov. Huey Long alongside the caption: "Huey was right."
(That was me with the Huey Was Right sign.)
While I think homelessness and police abuses are important issues, I cringe whenever fringies get the mic at such events. Thankfully, the media largely ignored the Bilderberger-obsessed Pualite and others attempting to co-opt the cameras. Though they got a lot of off-topic quotes, WDSU sorted through the bunch to find a couple of coherent messages.
And bless the woman who got up on the statue in Lafayette Square in the midst of all the other speakers and used her moment at the mic to thank the police for their polite escort. While acknowledging many people's legitimate complaints about the NOPD, she emphasized that, yesterday, they did their jobs, allowing the permitted march to run and keeping the marchers safe from motorists.
All in all, I'm proud to have been in that number and happy that 99 percenters in my town added their voice to the growing chorus of the fed up.
Peace to all. Support Occupy Wall Street.
(And, yes, expect a music video soon.)