Rioting in Baton Rouge

[sunny]

One of my sisters is in Baton Rouge, and she said the evacuatees are now rioting in Baton Rouge.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Things are spreading slowly.

[sunny]

They have also burned Oakwood Mall in Gretna to the ground and shot at firefighters trying to put the fire out.

[Mattie]

I posted this information earlier today - http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=73130

Lock down employees have been released. . . some of the news media saying that this rioting is a rumor - however, state and government offices usually don't lock down for rumors.

I have no idea what the real story is - but it is definitely a tense situation at best everywhere in the evacuation cities for sure!

[sunny]

Sorry

[weunice]

Live in Baton Rouge ... riot is not true. We all heard the same rumor and those of us watching the news heard them telling everyone that it was NOT TRUE. (WAFB if anyone cares to do the digging) ...

There was a situation with a couple of the refugees and a fight ... given the tension of the situation extra precautions are being taken. Nothing more ... LOTS of rumors are spreading about it being way worse than it is with the refugees.

[sunny]

My sister is IN Baton Rouge.

[PTrackerLA]

Nephew forwarded me an email sent out to LSU students and employees. There is civil unrest in Baton Rouge. They are recommending the kids in the dorms to leave the city...

There have been confirmed reports of civil unrest in the Baton Rouge
area this morning. These incidents appear to be confined to specific areas
in the downtown Baton Rouge area and specific locations around the
community. At this time, local law enforcement are reported to have the
situation contained. To insure safety, we have instructed that all
buildings on campus be locked and we ask that occupants remain indoors. We
are confident in the security procedures of LSU Public Safety and these
actions will permit their timely response to any incidents that may occur
on our campus.

This is a trying time for all of us in the affected areas and beyond.
Our efforts now center on safety and recovery. We are primarily concerned
with the safety and well being of the LSU community and we urge that safe
choices be made. For those on campus who would feel more secure in their
homes, we urge that you leave campus in an orderly fashion. Please be
aware that these incidents of unrest in the community make travel an
unknown risk at this time. Permitting time for the law enforcement
personnel to work through these challenges will likely improve the security
outlook in the near term.

Above all else, think through the choices being considered to assure
your safety.


Chancellor Sean O’Keefe

[Houstonia]

This is a trying time for all of us in the affected areas and beyond.
Our efforts now center on safety and recovery. We are primarily concerned
with the safety and well being of the LSU community and we urge that safe
choices be made. For those on campus who would feel more secure in their
homes, we urge that you leave campus in an orderly fashion. Please be
aware that these incidents of unrest in the community make travel an
unknown risk at this time. Permitting time for the law enforcement
personnel to work through these challenges will likely improve the security
outlook in the near term.

Above all else, think through the choices being considered to assure
your safety.


Chancellor Sean O’Keefe

Geez... it sounds like a war-torn country. Look at this from lonelyplanet.com - doesn't sound much different:

Post-Civil War Problems
Despite positive signs that Algeria's security situation is stabilising, travel in the country still poses significant risks. Travellers are advised to defer all but essential travel to Algeria. The southeast should be avoided altogether, as should the northwest.

[weunice]

My sister is IN Baton Rouge.

So am I.

False rumors circulating of Baton Rouge trouble
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbc ... S/50901017

Unless riots have started within the last few minutes, the rumors are FALSE. Local news took great effort to squash these rumors.

[PTrackerLA]

There is not rioting right now, but there have been incidents and will be more incidents most likely. Everyone needs to be on guard there. There are even rumors of crime occuring in Lafayette.

[GalvestonDuck]

We're hearing about it here too and I don't know what to believe about it. But, I'm armed regardless...almost always.

Email going around here at work:

Guys I just wanted to share some information that was just relayed to me.
A guy I know spoke to his friend that works at the police department
this morning and he told him something that he said you probably won't
see on the news - which you will figure out why when reading. He
informed him that everyone needs to be extremely careful right now and
to tune in to what is really happening around you. He said that we need
to remember that there are thousands of good people that are elderly,
children and helpless being housed with people that are criminals and
dope addicts going through withdrawals out of no choice. He said that
there has already been a rape in the dome of a woman by two men and they are writing graffiti on the walls and some are going through withdrawals and have been violent to innocent people. He said that these people cannot be contained to the dome and some are desperate and that desperate people do things that they might not ordinarily do. He said to heighten your awareness and to put your intelligence ahead of your pity. He said to not drive with your doors unlocked because there has been some cases in Louisiana and one in Texas of carjacking. When you pump gas, lock the car doors till you get finished.
Don't open your doors for solicitation. No one from Red Cross or a
reliable organization will go door to door. Do not open your window to
speak to people that are on the side of the road. Some might be from
the disaster but some may just be taking advantage of the situation and
you and you might be in danger to open your window.

He said to do your donations to the Red Cross or other reliable source.
He said that we need to remember that there are thousands of good people but they are being housed with the bad out of no choice. They need our help but not to try to go alone to do it for your own safety. Bring
donations to the drop off locations or notify someone to pick it up.

I passed this on, because I have been kinda in a trance from the
disbelief of the magnitude of this. When he told me this, I just
couldn't believe that people could hurt someone that was trying to help
or someone that is in a bad situation the same as you. I thought why is
he saying this, those people are hurting they surely wouldn't hurt
others that are helping, but after thinking about it, I realized that
there are thousands of people with nothing and nothing to lose, they
need help.This is sad but it is realistic, I just wanted to pass it on
to you because I just wanted you to be alert to what danger could be out
there to you and your family which ordinarily might not be because of
desperation. Please make your children and friends aware that their
sadness for the situation could be taken advantage of.

We need to all pray really hard right now.

[Mattie]

Yep - that's all they need is widespread panic - but in light of the downtown area being in lockdown (I know this for a fact) and a couple of black hawks at the centroplex - I think it's crowd patrol more than anything to dispel the stories.

Yes - heads up - everybody! Be aware! There ARE things going on!

[BLHutch]

Email going around here at work:

Thanks for sharing that, Duck. I'd venture to say that what is contained in that email is sound advice to follow at all times!

Brady H.

[mvtrucking]

We're hearing about it here too and I don't know what to believe about it. But, I'm armed regardless...almost always.

Email going around here at work:

Guys I just wanted to share some information that was just relayed to me.
A guy I know spoke to his friend that works at the police department
this morning and he told him something that he said you probably won't
see on the news - which you will figure out why when reading. He
informed him that everyone needs to be extremely careful right now and
to tune in to what is really happening around you. He said that we need
to remember that there are thousands of good people that are elderly,
children and helpless being housed with people that are criminals and
dope addicts going through withdrawals out of no choice. He said that
there has already been a rape in the dome of a woman by two men and they are writing graffiti on the walls and some are going through withdrawals and have been violent to innocent people. He said that these people cannot be contained to the dome and some are desperate and that desperate people do things that they might not ordinarily do. He said to heighten your awareness and to put your intelligence ahead of your pity. He said to not drive with your doors unlocked because there has been some cases in Louisiana and one in Texas of carjacking. When you pump gas, lock the car doors till you get finished.
Don't open your doors for solicitation. No one from Red Cross or a
reliable organization will go door to door. Do not open your window to
speak to people that are on the side of the road. Some might be from
the disaster but some may just be taking advantage of the situation and
you and you might be in danger to open your window.

He said to do your donations to the Red Cross or other reliable source.
He said that we need to remember that there are thousands of good people but they are being housed with the bad out of no choice. They need our help but not to try to go alone to do it for your own safety. Bring
donations to the drop off locations or notify someone to pick it up.

I passed this on, because I have been kinda in a trance from the
disbelief of the magnitude of this. When he told me this, I just
couldn't believe that people could hurt someone that was trying to help
or someone that is in a bad situation the same as you. I thought why is
he saying this, those people are hurting they surely wouldn't hurt
others that are helping, but after thinking about it, I realized that
there are thousands of people with nothing and nothing to lose, they
need help.This is sad but it is realistic, I just wanted to pass it on
to you because I just wanted you to be alert to what danger could be out
there to you and your family which ordinarily might not be because of
desperation. Please make your children and friends aware that their
sadness for the situation could be taken advantage of.

We need to all pray really hard right now.

I too am armed to the teeth Galveston Duck. I am almost 4 hrs north but still too close for comfort if things get out of hand. I think the authorities will get a good handle on this and everything will be ok.