Posted on 08/30/2005 12:59:42 PM PDT by LM_Guy
NEW ORLEANS With much of the city flooded by Hurricane Katrina, looters floated garbage cans filled with clothing and jewelry down the street in a dash to grab what they could.
In some cases, looting today took place in full view of police and National Guard troops.
At a Walgreen's drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers.
When police finally showed up, a young boy stood in the door screaming, "86! 86!" the radio code for police and the crowd scattered.
Denise Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, stood outside and snapped pictures in amazement.
"It's downtown Baghdad," the housewife said. "It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not."
Around the corner on Canal Street, the main thoroughfare in the central business district, people sloshed headlong through hip-deep water as looters ripped open the steel gates on the front of several clothing and jewelry stores.
One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store.
"No," the man shouted, "that's EVERYBODY'S store."
Looters filled industrial-sized garbage cans with clothing and jewelry and floated them down the street on bits of plywood and insulation as National Guard lumbered by.
Mike Franklin stood on the trolley tracks and watched the spectacle unfold.
"To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," he said.
A man walked down Canal Street with a pallet of food on his head. His wife, who refused to give her name, insisted they weren't stealing from the nearby Winn-Dixie supermarket. "It's about survival....
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
I live on the TX gulf coast. I have candles, radios, 5 days of food and water, a first aid kit, and lots of ammo. It is hurricane season after all.
Shot gun typo.
Yeah. They look like they've been starving all their lives...
Jewelry, televisions, cash, etc. That rates a bullet in the head.
Like most people, I don't have a problem with someone taking food (most of it's just going to spoil anyway), but anyone seen walking down the street with a TV set or an armload of jewelry should be shot on sight.
LOL
I like shoot guns.
He must be REALLY hungry... This is the same thing that happened in L.A. during the riots, a free-for-all by the do-nothings against the homeowners and business owners.
I thought I'd heard that the law requires the discarding of all food from a store which had been flooded. If so, then they're just taking the trash.
may the fire ants find their way into his pants
The only oppression in her life is the one she left in her couch.
Free Rodney King! Free Rodney King! Free televisions!
I guess its safe to say that all of the looters are DEMOCRATS!
This dude's even got em stuck in his pants pocket! Mmm, Heinekin!
I agree. Anything is possible. But this is cataclysmic.
Another Philly cheese sandwich, imitating a human being.
She must have been severely disappointed having spent good money only to get photographs of the same shoplifting she sees every day in Philly.
Wouldn't it be more fun to follow and watch him try to find a dry place to put his new TV down? Let alone plug it in.
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