Survivors Village Takes Over former public housing site in New Orleans!
Take Back the Land
Press Release
For immediate release
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Survivors Village Takes Over Housing Office
Mass sit in demands the Right to Return for former
St. Bernard Housing Project Residents
forcibly removed after Hurricane Katrina
Friday, May 28, 2010, 2:00pm- At approximately 1:30pm, the Survivors Village organization stormed and sat in at the offices of the Columbia Village apartments today. The complex sits on top of the land of what used to be the St. Bernard public housing complex. The complex was destroyed after Hurricane Katrina and all 1,500 families were removed. The new units are primarily market rate housing with approximately 130 set aside for public housing.
Police on the scene were attempting to decide what to do: continue to allow Survivors Village to protest or arrest them for trespassing on what is still public land. Almost 100 protesters are in the lobby. Video and pictures will be up soon on takebacktheland.org.
The protest is part of Survivor's Village Right to Return Weekend, during which the organization asserts the unconditional right of return for all public housing residents forcibly relocated by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent public policy actions of the local and state governments.
Right to Return Weekend continues on Saturday, May 29th with a protest against land grabs and on Sunday, May 30th to demand an end to homelessness. Both action begin at 9:00am on the 3800 block of St. Bernard Ave. in St. Bernard Parish.
Survivor's Village is an autonomous organization affiliated with the Take Back the Land Movement (TBLM). TBLM is a network of local organizations dedicated to demanding people's fundamental human right to housing housing and community control over land.
For more information about Survivors Village, visit communitiesrising.wordpress.com. For more information about the Take Back the Land Movement visit takebacktheland.org.
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