Darryl Travis hauls his belongings down Canal Street after being forced to leave New Orleans' Crowne Plaza Hotel. FEMA cut off hotel aid to some Hurricane Katrina evacuees Tuesday.

Alex Brandon / The Associated Press

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NEW ORLEANS — More than 4,500 evacuees occupying government-paid hotel rooms were ordered to turn in their keys Tuesday, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency began cutting off money to pay for their stays.

Far more people — the occupants of at least 20,000 hotel rooms, many of which housed entire families — were given extensions by FEMA until at least next week and possibly as long as March 1, said FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney.

FEMA said it gave people every possible opportunity to request an extension.

"We've bent over backward to reach out. We've gone door-to-door to all of the 25,000 hotel rooms no fewer than six times. And there are individuals who have refused to come to the door, refused to answer. There are people who have run when they saw us coming — those are the ones that are now moving on," Kinerney said.

FEMA maintains that as many as 80 percent of those being forced to check out this week have made other arrangements, ranging from trailers to receiving federal rent assistance to living with relatives.

While many evacuees leaving the Crowne Plaza said they had found other housing, several said they were now homeless.

In Oakland, Calif., demonstrators chanting "Evict FEMA" tried to present an eviction notice to employees at a FEMA branch office.

When the more than 50 protesters were turned away at the door, they posted large eviction signs in the front and back of the building.

Other protests were also planned in four other cities: Jackson, Miss.; Atlanta; Raleigh, N.C.; and Washington.

In Houston, where 4,000 evacuees were staying in hotels, around 80 percent had received permission to extend their stays until at least next Monday. The remaining 20 percent either failed to contact FEMA or made other housing arrangements, said Frank Michel, a spokesman for Mayor Bill White.

"People need to begin to take responsibility for themselves," Michel said.

Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Tucson have not been affected by FEMA's decision to stop paying for hotel expenses because they've made the transition to apartment living, according to local relief workers.

"We have not been made aware of anybody being put in jeopardy," said Latresa Jester, regional disaster response director for Lutheran Social Ministries.

Carol Vicuña, a spokeswoman for the Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Red Cross, said the roughly 80 people who were forced to evacuate their homes and sheltered temporarily at the Tucson Convention Center were placed in subsidized government housing.

The Red Cross estimates it processed another 500 cases of evacuees who arrived here after willingly leaving the Gulf Coast, she said..

Many of the so-called "self-evacuees" spent two or three weeks in hotels before securing housing, she said.