Over 200 Protest Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans

Anarchists took to the streets in New Orleans on Friday to protest the SRLC, marching to the Hilton Hotel, where a banner was hanging from the roof which said "We won't pay for their crisis. Become the crisis!"

The march then headed to Brennan's Restaurant, where a $10,000 a plate SRLC dinner was in progress. Brennan's is notorious as the largest donor to the LA Restaurant Association, which sued to block a $1 minimum wage raise that was approved by voters in New Orleans in 2002.

Protesters marched against traffic and lost the police on the way, and attempted to storm the restaurants doors after chants echoed off the walls in the narrow French Quarter streets. The police arrived just as people started to stream through the doors and they pushed everyone back outside. SRLC delegates were forced to walk a gauntlet of protesters chanting "they say cut backs, we say fight back!" as they exited the restaurant.

Eventually the march headed back to the Hilton and chanted "Racist, Sexist, Anti-Gay, Right Wing Bigots Go Away" to the delegates entering and exiting the hotel before dispersing.

The march included brass bands, students from UNO, healthcare workers fighting to re-open Charity Hospital, and people angry about a bunch of racist, fascist bigots coming to New Orleans after their leaders drowned it only 4 years ago. New Orleans is still badly damaged from the hurricane, and the GOP should be ashamed to come party on top of its ruins while we still struggle to recover. Their arrogance and wealth is only fuel to stoke our fires of anger at the injustice and deprivation we live through every day.

From the AP:
About 200 to 250 people marched on the hotel where the Southern Republican Leadership Conference met Friday, chanting slogans against Louisiana's Republican governor and the health care and education cuts in his proposed budget.

They chanted "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Bobby Jindal has got to go!" Several said they planned to protest outside the hotel where the governor was holding a $10,000-a-plate fundraiser.

Outside the Hilton hotel, some people wearing tags identifying them as delegates walked past as if they didn't see the group or hear the tubas, trombones, trumpets, saxophone and drums playing a repetitive riff. Others were irritated or amused.

"This is good! They even have a good sound track!" said delegate Sarah Harper Scott of Augusta, Ga. She had come out with several friends to take pictures of the motley group clustered on a corner across from the hotel.

"Normally I protest. I don't get protested against," she said.

Kathy Hildebrand of Snelville, Ga., was less amused. "They want our money but they don't want us," she said, noting that one big banner read "Republicans Geaux Home."

The protesters included doctors and other workers at free clinics in the city and students and professors at the University of New Orleans. Signs included "Save UNO" and "Stop Jindal. Save healthcare" and "Tax the rich -- stop the budget cuts."

Lucy Tierney said she came from Slidell because she's opposed to tearing down a Mid-City neighborhood to build a replacement for the old Charity Hospital.

Michaela O'Connor Bono said the signs about state budget cuts obscured the main point. "We're here because the Republicans are here," she said.

"To me, the most awful thing is that Jindal is holding a $10,000-per-plate dinner. That's despicable" at a time when people can't get jobs or health care, she said.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ss...w_orl.html