In normal times, redevelopment of public housing to make way for mixed-income neighborhoods might have gone largely unopposed. But passions are high in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, where residents are desperate for cheap housing.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to demolish about 4,500 public housing units at four of the city's largest complexes and replace them with mixed-income neighborhoods.

Protesters temporarily halted crews from demolishing decrepit buildings at the B.W. Cooper housing site on Thursday.

At least two protesters apparently occupied one of the buildings scheduled to be bulldozed, draping two handmade banners from the side Thursday. One read, "Reopen now," and the other, "No demolition."

A man and a woman were arrested hours later on municipal trespassing charges.

Protesters have marched on Mayor Ray Nagin's home and disrupted City Council proceedings with chants. On Thursday, they kept up the pressure with a march at the HUD offices in Washington.

Civil rights lawyers also filed an 11th-hour suit in state court after a federal court suit failed to derail the demolition plan.