Around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, an extra hour of public comment allotted by the Atlanta City Council ran out, but nearly two dozen people were still left in line wanting to speak against the training center.
After initially trying to move onto the meeting agenda, President Doug Shipman lost total control of the crowd. The next speaker in line began yelling her comments into the mic before a police officer turned the mic off at the podium.
Attendees left in the chamber yelled over council members and each other. Chants of “let us speak” filled the room.
The council approved a motion to go into recess while the room devolved into chaos. Council members ran back and forth across the dais debating whether or not to continue or move to a closed committee room for the remainder of the meeting.
When council came back into session, council member Matt Westmoreland made a motion to give the remaining public commenters a final chance to speak. The motion passed unanimously and the 22 people left in line continued sharing their comments.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
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