New Orleans Packed With Baring Revelers

Revelers shed inhibitions--and some of their clothes--as hundreds of thousands of people jammed New Orleans streets for Mardi Gras, the final fling before the austerity of Lent. In the French Quarter, a police ban on nudity went mostly unenforced. Police do not release arrest figures until after Mardi Gras, which ends at midnight Tuesday--the last day of feasting before Ash Wednesday and the sacrifices of Catholics during Lent. This year’s later-than-usual event, coinciding with college spring breaks and 80-degree weather, was expected to produce a record crowd.