Police budget protesters take over city meeting
Public delegations at a Hamilton budget feedback meeting were abruptly adjourned Monday night after a large group of protesters stormed council chambers to rail against a proposed police budget hike.
Just over half of the public delegates scheduled to speak were heard at the annual meeting before dozens of protesters filed into the chamber’s gallery around 6:30 p.m., pounding drums, clapping and singing anti-police chants.
By 7:30 p.m., nearly every seat in the gallery was occupied. Councillors in attendance were straightfaced and tight-lipped as protesters shouted questions at them and demanded they reject a $12.3-million increase to the police budget.
“We got all night, you can just answer our question: Will you vote no to the police budget?” one protester asked.
“This committee stands in recess until the gallery is cleared,” said chair Brad Clark.
Several delegates at Monday’s meeting asked councillors to vote against the proposed 6.71 per cent increase in next year’s police budget. Specifically, they vouched for allocating those requested funds to other pressing city needs like the housing and an opioid crisis.
Clark, the Ward 9 councillor, called an official end to the meeting at 7:40 p.m. — but he couldn’t be heard as protesters shouted over him.
As councillors filed out of the chambers, they were asked a repeated question by members of the gallery.
“How do you sleep at night?”
Several delegates at Monday’s meeting asked councillors to vote against the proposed 6.71 per cent increase in next year’s police budget