Gaza protests halt all inperson public access to Surrey, B.C., council meetings

Protesters calling on city councillors in Surrey, B.C., to ask for a ceasefire in Gaza have instead triggered a series of security changes that include the temporary end of all in-person attendance at council meetings by members of the public.

Mayor Brenda Locke told Monday’s council meeting that the decision to restrict public access had been made because of security concerns about protests that have been disrupting meetings since December, by demonstrators she said had “occupied” council chambers.

“Reluctantly, we have had to take this step to move the public outside of the gallery in order to ensure the business of the city continues,” she said.

Protester Saeed Naguib said he first addressed a council meeting in November, encouraging it to join other cities, such as Burnaby, B.C., in asking the federal government to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

“Victoria is too far away for me to go to get my voice heard politically, same thing with Ottawa,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “I can’t fly to Ottawa to talk about these issues, but I could go to Surrey City Hall to try and address these concerns.”

Naguib said the protesters’ goal has shifted since then. He said he’d like council to put forward and vote on a motion on whether to call for a ceasefire so residents are armed with that information next election.

“We view our concerns as part of the business of the city. We are residents; we’re part of the community. All we want is to be able to sit down with our elected officials and have a conversation with them,” he said.

“We want our city council to acknowledge our country’s complicity (in the suffering of Palestinian civilians) and send a message to the prime minister to take actions to end the complicity, specifically an arms embargo, but if we can actually have a meeting with them, then we can detail, and work through and negotiate actual points.”

Council passed a motion on Monday to allow members of the public to attend and participate in meetings electronically, starting at the next meeting on April 8.

Locke told the meeting that registered members of the public could speak on items on the agenda, and additional safety measures had been put in place, including a police presence.

She said all council members respect the right to protest, but that does not extend to “blockading lawful activities.”

Naguib said he views the decision to halt the public’s in-person access to meetings as council “shutting down democracy.”

“We do need an outlet for residents to express their concerns and our city has blocked off every outlet and so it has come to this,” he said.