All of the members of the Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem and their parents, along with its former CEO and founder, Dr. Walter Turnbull, yesterday stood alongside the group’s administrative staff in protest of the Department of Education’s decision on Tuesday to evict the choir from its rent-free space at the Choir Academy.

With police blocking the door, young children looking confused and their parents irate, Dr. Turnbull encouraged the large crowd to “not give up but to stand proud.”

“We may be down, but we are not out,” Dr. Turnbull told The New York Sun. The Department of Education has been “dismantling us for the past four years.This is not a reason to destroy our children,” he said.

In a scene reminiscent of the civil rights movement, the Boys and Girls Choir members and their parents and supporters marched from 127th Street and Park Avenue, down to 125th Street and Madison Avenue, and back to the school. The choir stood in front of the school and sang the Negro national anthem, “Lift Every Voice.”

While waiting for word about where the choir would relocate, a supporter in the crowd, Senior Minister Luonne Abram Rouse of the Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church, handed Dr. Turnbull a key to the front door of the church.

“We will allow them to use our space for as long as they need it,” Senior Minister Rouse said. “We have enough space where they can rehearse and use as office space.”

Before the minister made his offer, a lawsuit was filed late Tuesday by the choir in an effort to block the eviction, claiming that the Department of Education illegally broke its lease and did not offer proper notification of the eviction.

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that the city is not opposed to the choir being offered as an after-school program at the school. “We gave them a number of opportunities to fix the program and make it work, but there comes a time in everything when you have to say this is the final date and if you don’t comply by that date we’re not kidding.That’s the end.”

A group of parents from the school have also filed a federal civil rights suit against the Department of Education, stating that members of the choir have received unfairly severe punishments for minor infractions. The suit also says the department is racially biased against the school, which is run by minorities.

The education department did not return several calls for comment.

The Boys Choir of Harlem was founded in the basement of a Harlem church in 1968. The choir has released albums and been heard on the soundtracks to movies such as “Jungle Fever,” “Malcolm X,” and “Glory.” It has also performed at the White House, at the United Nations, and for Pope John Paul II.

“We need for the artists to come and support us,” Dr. Turnbull told the Sun. “They need to stand with us. Our people who have money need to step up without being asked.”