Demolition begins on

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2007 | by Rick Jervis

NEW ORLEANS — Federal officials began demolishing a local housing project Thursday despite protesters who angrily decried the destruction, saying the hurricaneravaged city needs to preserve its affordable housing.

About 30 protesters had stood Wednesday in the path of a two-story excavator, temporarily blocking the demolition crew's path into the B.W. Cooper housing development in central New Orleans.

Thursday's gathering was less confrontational and crews began demolishing one section of the development. Another part of the complex will remain open.

About 50 protesters marched from the housing project to City Hall and the New Orleans office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

"There is a terrible housing crisis...