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Thursday, Oct 4, 2012 9:30 AM UTC

Katrina victims take on hurricane tour operators

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Topics: From the Wires,

Katrina victims take on hurricane tour operatorsLower 9th Ward resident Gloria Guy talks on her front porch in New Orleans, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012. Residents and the City of New Orleans may be pushing back against tour companies ushering out-of-towners into to the Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood made famous when floodwalls and levees failed in 2005, pushing homes off their foundations and stranding residents on rooftops. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)(Credit: AP)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Some New Orleans residents and elected officials are pushing back against tour operators who send out-of-towners into the city’s Lower 9th Ward, where Hurricane Katrina unleashed a wall of water that pushed homes off foundations and stranded residents on rooftops when the levees failed.

The devastation became the centerpiece of a cottage tourism industry after the August 2005 hurricane, sending visitors streaming in for a close-up look.

Worried that the tour vehicle traffic would interfere with clean-up efforts, the City Council approved an ordinance in 2006 banning the coaches from the area. Now, tour operators are crying foul, claiming the ordinance was thinly enforced until recently, and that their business is being hurt.

But residents say they’re weary of being gawked at. They also say the buses damage their streets.

Stacey Plaisance

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  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

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  • Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.

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