Reports: Police Shot at Tourists trying to escape New Orleans.

"The Age" of Melbourne reports: Police Shoot at Tourists escaping New Orleans.

Frightened Japanese, European and American tourists told today how police fired over their heads to end their attempt to leave New Orleans.

Stranded since Hurricane Katrina hit the city on Monday, the 200 tourists were thrown out of their hotel on Thursday morning and said they were confronted by police as they attempted to get to buses to take them to safety.

Turned back to the centre of New Orleans, where looters were still roaming the lawless streets, the tourists huddled together on their suitcases under a pavilion next to the Mississippi River.

The hotel in the French Quarter told the tourists to leave saying their safety could no longer be guaranteed.

The tourists dragged their suitcases through a notoriously dangerous inner city neighbourhood, got drenched in a thunderstorm and were then turned back.

"All of a sudden, police cruisers rushed in with sirens blaring," said Patty Murphy, a 57-year-old saleswoman from Massachusetts. "They were shooting over our heads telling us to go back."

The tourists, one walking on crutches, then trekked back to the relative safety of the Canal Street ferry terminal which faces the police command centre.

At one stage they chartered buses to get them out of town only to be told the vehicles had been commandeered by the National Guard.

"We are tourists we don't know how to get around how to protect ourselves, it is like being in a jungle," said Ryo Gotanda of Japan, who studies in New York.

The worst part, she said, was walking through the tough inner-city neighbourhood. "People were staring at us, waving clubs. I was scared, for the first time in my life I thought I would die," said Gotanda.

Comments

[Zach]

This is just crazy, it really is. I hope the tourists can get some media attention.