Convention Center refugees not allowed to leave?

Fox News ^ | Worst-Case Scenario

[worst-case scenario]

Last night on Hannity and Colmes, Shepherd Smith and Geraldo Rivera were both reporting from the Convention Center. Both of them reported that the refugees at the Convention Center have essentially ben in lockdown since Tuesday. Anyone who tried to leave by walking out the only unflooded path, I-10, had been turned back by armed blockades that had been set up "by the Federal Government." "Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" of people were sitting on the "easily accessible bridge" had been sitting there for days, not able to cross, and without any deliveries of even water.

Rivera was begging that people be allowed to "walk away from here".

There's been a lot of comment in some threads about folks too trained by welfare and government handouts to get up and walk out of the city. Apparently thousands tried to take charge of themselves and walk out - but were prevented from leaving. Apparently "the government" - not identified who, exactly - actually locked people into the Superdome and the Convention Center and wouldn't let them out. "They set up a checkpoint and anyone who walked out of the city was turned around....you can't enter Gretna, La., from New Orleans."

I was shocked to hear this.

Maybe the Feds or someone else just doesn't want to deal with a massive influx of refugees. There's a gigantic WalMart right on the other side of the bridge, so maybe it's being protected from looting.

But in any case, it doesn't seem legit to blame the folks at the Convention Center for not getting off their butts and walking out when they are turned back by armed guards when they attempt it, and then get locked into the buildings they were told to wait at. Maybe it's time to rethink some of the comments that have berated these folks for just sitting around waiting for help. This coverage makes it plain that a lot of these folks were doing the normal thing - walking out on their own steam - but weren't permitted to leave.

[Brilliant]

I'm sure the authorities did not want them roaming the streets. They were already having difficulty dealing with looters and rapists.

[worst-case scenario]

I searched for footage all over the Fox News site, but the only place I could get the actual video was from Crooks and Liars. I am sorry about the sitelink, since it's so obviously Lib - but the video is straight from Fox.

[harpu]

AND, the rest (or 'other side') of the story would be...

[Columbine]

Why on earth would you or Geraldo want thousands more people wandering through waist deep sewage and armed gangs?

Geraldo was doing his best last night to incite a riot. Fortunately, he failed.

[chris1]

This is not accpetable. Sure there are some looters, but not everyone has looted. Some on FR make it seem that they are all looters. What a joke. There are many sick elderly, etc who are helpless.

I said it before, I am amazed at some Freepers who seem more concerned about eh tsunami victims than our own citzens' plight.

[dufekin]

It's technically illegal for pedestrians to be on the Interstate; therefore, they can't use that route without a car. This restriction is so important that it's the only law that New Orleans currently enforces. Heck, why get murderers and rapists when you have a freeway pedestrian prohibition to enforce? And I'm sure that the people in the convention center all are guilty of petty crimes like jaywalking, loitering, public urination, and poor sanitation anyway. I know it's a life-threatening emergency, but that's no excuse to break even the stupidest law unless you're a career hard-core criminal.

That's what the New Orleans authorities have got to be thinking. In any case, does anyone know if the Interstate has been structurally compromised?

[CatoRenasci]

I heard this last night, both Shepard Smith and Jerry Rivers.

[cripplecreek]

I think things are greatly improving down there. Sure there are places where huge collections of people make conditions horrible but they are improving.

There appears to be a great deal of rumor flying around as well. Yesterday some activist type wrote that blacks are eating thier dead but he offered no reason to believe it

[dawn53]

I heard Geraldo, but I have a theory about the folks at the Convention Center.

At the Dome, they searched and patted down everybody who went in, still guns were in the Dome.

At the Convention Center there has been no National Guard presence until yesterday.

I don't think they want to load those people on buses and start transporting them until they can at least do some sort of a search or check for weapons, etc.

That's just my theory, and how that will happen (a search), God knows because any search is going to infuriate them more than they already are infuriated.

[poobear]

"Geraldo was doing his best last night to incite a riot. Fortunately, he failed."

I was watching that last. I couldn't believe what I was watching. Geraldo is certifiable! Get him off the air NOW!

[nevergore]

Geez...If I were one of these people, I'd push past whatever law enforcement is there and have them arrest me...

They'd be forced by federal law to provide meals, showers and clean facilities.....

This is why they released the prisoners in NO once they realized they were in violation....

NeverGore :^)

[sportutegrl]

I can confirm this. I saw this last night on O'Reilly and Fox. Shep and Geraldo both looked extremely upset and angry about people being kept prisoners in subhuman conditions for days. Also exacuation has stopped and it is unknown when busses will start running again. There are 50K people at the Dome and Convention center and either 500 or 5000, (I heard both numbers) on some I-10 exit ramp, apparently just dropped there by the Coast Guard after they are pulled off of their roofs. Babies are dying, children are being raped, dead bodies are all over.

[chris1]

Agreed. The big problem is now where tp put these people and what to do with them?

I got it: let them build the wall on the southern border so they will be productive and feel their sense of worth!

[johnny7]

“You can check in anytime... but you can never leave.” -Hotel NO

[xsmommy]

he and shep both were out of their minds last night.

[Northern Alliance]

Why on earth would you or Geraldo want thousands more people wandering through waist deep sewage and armed gangs?

Geraldo was doing his best last night to incite a riot. Fortunately, he failed.

I think people are confusing the Shepard Smith and Geraldo reports in this thread. According to Smith, people were dying from medical problems and even simple dehydration - dying from the lack of the most basic need of humans - drinking water. That was happening where they were, but there was food, shelter, and medical care available within walking distance. They were on a bridge. I don't know if they would have had to even walk through water or not. That is how I understood his report.

[stocksthatgoup]

Maybe they want a chance to arrest the rapists.

[chris1]

Did you not hear on FR, they are all looters and criminals???

[maryz]

At the Dome, they searched and patted down everybody who went in, still guns were in the Dome.

I thought I read they started that way, but then skipped it to speed things up.

[worst-case scenario]

Did you actually look at the footage? The whole point of people walking over the I-10 is that it was elevated above the water and sewage and all. It's the only safe path into or out of the area. They wouldn't have been "wandering through waist deep sewage and armed gangs" - as a matter of fact, hundreds and hundreds of people were calmly sitting on the bridge, waiting for the buses, since that is the only route the buses could take.

Heavens, even if there are 100 out of every 1000 of those residents that are part of an "armed gang", what about the other 900 innocent people, who are following directions, doing what they're told, abandoned and unable to escape the situation? Actually prevented at gunpoint from escaping that hellhole?

Don't be so kneejerk.

[sportutegrl]

I just saw on CNN a film of a guy threaten to start eating dead people. They have been 5 days without food. Not all are criminals and thugs. They are poor people and babies and children and tourists and old and elderly and sick. They can't wait in the line for 3 hours for MREs. They are dying. They are not being allowed to simply walk away from hellish conditions. Who is doing this? And why?

[chris1]

I assume you would be too if you were in the same conditions? I am utterly disgusted with many on FR who sit in the comfort of their air conditioning withplenty of food, water, comfort judging some of these people, not including the looters and rapists obviously.

[DugwayDuke]

And, exactly where were these people going to walk too?

This is standard procedure for dealing with situations like this. It is necessary to control the movement of people. Otherwise you'll never get control of the situation. You need to concentrate the people needing help in positions so that the authorities know where to send the help. If these persons had been allowed to 'walk out' on their own, the only result would have been that they would have been spread out over a larger area and you'd have to spend valuable time and resources looking for them, you'd have to concentrate them again, and then get them completely out of the area.

Note to everyone. Never go to a shelter unless there is absolutely no other choice. You give up all your freedom of action.

[poobear]

Agreed! The heat finally took its toll I guess. Had to turn it off at that point. They weren't looking to well either.

[Columbine]

What Shepherd Smith said, in between outbursts of drama, was that there had been 5,000 on the ramp the day before and last night there were 500.

Not that is a dramatic decrease in one day.

And NO, I am not confusing the reports. I saw the entire shameful spectacle that Fox News staged last night. It was disgusting!

[chris1]

It does not suit some Freepers to acknowledge that. Of course there are some looters, but these are mostly law abiding AMERICAN CITIZENS we are talking about.

[Columbine]

Who is doing this? And why?

A hurricane and a flood did it. Get a grip!

[xsmommy]

listen, my gripe is with the personal grandstanding of Shep and Geraldo that was evident last night. no one is saying that the plight of those people is not tragic, but those two were beyond the pale, and it has everything to do with their personalities and personal bent and not the tragic circumstances.

[sheik yerbouty]

Smith was out there for 5 days. He was having a meltdowm..

[worst-case scenario]

Yeah, Shep was on top of the I-10 bridge at exit 235. It's right above the Convention Center, which is where Geraldo was located.

Folks from the Convention Center tried to walk out the Interstate and cross the bridge but were turned back at armed checkpoints. They were all told to return to the Center and wait for the buses that were coming, along with the other relief.

Some went back to the Center, some just stayed sitting on the bridge.

[chris1]

You are telling us never to do what these people are being forced to do yet don't want them to walk to safety?????

[cripplecreek]

LOL FEMA death camp conspiracy theories.

[Prospero]

Did Geraldo have any problems getting out? The guy's there since Wednesday, and didn't seem to be having any problems coming and going, spending most of his time yesterday flying around with the levee sandbag crews. A lot of these reporters, with some notable exceptions, have essentially become victims themselves, with all the post-trauma hysteria. And one point on a 90,000 square mile map with a camera provides only the illusion of "the big picture." There is plenty of stupidity to go around. We are also watching the tail end of a collapse of local and state government that should have been prepared to be the first responders, not the federals. This crowd at the Convention Center included parolees and and prisoners, all mixed in with law abiding people. And horrendous crimes have taken place there while the lights were out. As tragic as it was, and as ham-handed as some of the shepherds of these victims has been, it will take a lot of time for the inside story to Half the cops of NOLA are AWOL, by the way, or they were. And we are dealing with the default attitude that "the Federal Government" stopped people from leaving, as if such a decision came directly from the Oval Office.

Geraldo weeping with what appears to be a more sober minded infant, last night on fox, plead for someone to "let these people go."

As instantaneous as television is, the feds are like the USS Truman, big and bad, but slow to stop and change course. The First Responders are local and state, and if this vast storm overwhelmed them, then it follows that it staggered the feds as well.

In the end, it will be demonstrated that the federal response was the fastest deployment of the largest coordination of human and material resources in history. 100 hours until the arrival of a convoy? Take another look at South Dade after Andrew in 1992. And Floyd in eastern NC in 1999, where the "poor and black" were lucky to get out alive of smaller flooded cities spread over a 50,000 square mile area after ten days.

The camera is a key hole upon an unprecedented concentration of flood victims, but not unprecedented in numbers.

[Columbine]

Yes, I would cut Smith some slack. He had really tried to help people and he didn't go as far as Geraldo last night.

Geraldo is nothing more than a media whore and never will be.

It was interesting that H&C only went to them one time. I'll bet the email was flooding Fox News servers by then.

[cripplecreek]

I think we'll hear stories of some real heroics in comming weeks and months.

[chris1]

You are the sick one. It was plainly clear last night why these people are holed up there and not just lazy bums to dumb to walk the bridge.

I sure hope one day you or your family are not put into a situation like this and kept like a rat in a cage with no food and water or way out.

[xsmommy]

did you happen to see, i think it was on Greta's coverage, the woman that had arrived at the Astrodome who said she had just gotten there and wanted her family to know it, and i swear she took her glasses off and said something about wanting to tell George W. Bush that she was NEVER EVER going to vote for him, to "look at this face good". did anyone else see that? and did i misunderstand what she said? my daughter and i both looked at each other like, WHAT WAS THAT, and why would fox show that, it was a clip, not a live shot last night.

[Columbine]

Yes, I saw that woman. It was an insane thing to show.

Contrary to popular opinion Fox News has quite a few moonbat libs on their staff and they take their shots at the administration whenever possible.

[dalebert]

Could it be conditions were unsafe?

[tsmith130]

I saw it but couldn't make sense of what she was saying.

[dawn53]

If this was at the Convention Center it's just not true.

Watched Fox yesterday as Steve Harrigan was reporting live while the people at the Convention Center were being fed.

[Theophilus]

anyone who walked out of the city was turned around

OUTRAGE! At least let people take care of themselves!

[Just mythoughts]

Whose idea was it to call American citizens refugees?

[xsmommy]

we were taken aback by it, because it was a completely gratuitous slam at the president.

[dalebert]

The press is only seeing a small part of the problem.

[xsmommy]

or gun weilding looters, REBELS??

[Clara Lou]

Get your facts straight. There are 2,000 people remaining at the Super Dome.

[chris1]

Of course its an outrage. Don't tell that to some of the Generals on FR who could care less and want to assume each of these people are gang bangers and criminals. I have seen mostly elderly and women myself on the TV.

[Columbine]

Yes, you are right.

I don't watch Fox News nearly as much as I used to but I've been watching a lot of hurricane coverage.

Normally, I get most of my news from the Internet now.