Breaking News from new Orleans: Protesters face with chemicals and stun guns

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UPDATE:

Reports text-messaged from inside the hearing regarding proposed demolition of low-income housing report taser use , disturbances ("rioting") and macing outside of City Hall. More as the story unfolds.

The AP reported an hour before these reports came in that protesters planned to disrupt the City Council meeting , where members were expected to approve demolishing dozens of buildings. People entering the council chamber had to pass through metal detectors and handbags were being searched.

The hearing today will decide whether bulldozers will roll on the HUD managed projects.

The Times-Picayune reported on its website at 1:00 PM that demonstrators broke through an iron gate and this forced the police response of tasers, mace, and pepper spray. A dozen police were on foot and seven on horseback.

Several streets surrounding city hall were blocked off and a SWAT team truck with officers in full riot gear was parked at the corner of LaSalle and Perdido.

Authors Website: http://www.georgianne-nienaber.com

Authors Bio:

Georgianne Nienaber is an investigative environmental and political writer. She lives in rural northern Minnesota and South Florida. Her articles have appeared in The Society of Professional Journalists' Online Quill Magazine, the Huffington Post, The Ugandan Independent, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, Glide Magazine, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, Bitch Magazine, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction expose of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse Sense, was re-released in early 2006. Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey was also released in 2006. Nienaber spent much of 2007 doing research in South Africa, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was in DRC as a MONUC-accredited journalist, and was living in Southern Louisiana investigating hurricane reconstruction and getting to know the people there in 2007. Nienaber is continuing "to explore the magic of the Deep South." She was a member of the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and is a current member of Investigative Rorters and Editors.