A Greenwich Council meeting descended into chaos on Wednesday night as another Gaza demonstration halted proceedings — with residents who had come to ask questions about knife crime, flytipping, housing and other issues told to leave.
The disruption came after a minute’s silence was held to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, with representatives from the Catford & Bromley Synagogue leading a prayer. Three candles lit as a sign of remembrance remained burning throughout the fracas.
When the Gaza activists tried to hold their own minute’s silence for those killed in the territory, the borough’s ceremonial mayor, Dominic Mbang, appeared unsure how to react – even though several of his Labour colleagues also took part in the minute’s silence.
Greenwich Council said on Thursday evening that it would have held a minute’s silence for the victims of the conflict if it had been formally asked to do so.
The call for a minute’s silence came during the part of the meeting reserved for public questions, when residents can come to a microphone and ask follow-ups to written questions.
When one speaker, Lubna Speitan, used a follow-up question to call for a minute’s silence, several councillors stood up. But Mbang tried to move on to the next question, leading to anger from the public gallery, and some comparing the silence for the one which had been held earlier.
Mbang then appeared to call for quiet so the silence could be observed. But after criticism continued from the gallery, he then ended the silence on the instructions of the council’s chief executive, Debbie Warren — instructions that were not obvious in the chamber, but could be heard on the council’s own webcast — and attempted to move on to another question.
The meeting then was halted amid shouting from activists, despite some councillors trying to calm them down. “I am ashamed to be a member of the Labour Party,” one woman said. “All of you sitting down there, history is watching, and one day you will have to account for what you are doing now.”
Some councillors stayed in their seats for a period after Mbang had led their colleagues out.
In extraordinary scenes during the break, one councillor, Lakshan Saldin (Charlton Hornfair), asked security guards to stop ejecting the activists and said he would speak to the mayor and Warren. But the chamber was cleared with just The Greenwich Wire’s reporter — the only journalist present — remaining for the rest of the proceedings.
The shambles came amid pressure from Labour councillors for the town hall to take a stand on the Israeli government’s bombing of Gaza, which has killed over 27,000 people. That followed the Hamas attacks on Israel on October in which over 1,100 people died and 250 taken hostage.
Meetings of Labour councils across London have been disrupted by activists who want the national party to take a stronger stance on the Israeli government’s actions; a meeting in Greenwich was halted in December but that time the public were not cleared from the chamber.
Last week Hackney Council passed a motion calling for the “cessation of hostilities” with the ruling Labour party heavily amending a Green motion. However, Lambeth Labour councillors voted down a similar motion put by their Green counterparts. Protesters were led out of both town halls.
The Greenwich Wire understands that some Labour councillors have been trying to put their own motion together, but their attempts have been rejected by the party hierarchy. In December, 32 of the borough’s 52 Labour councillors at the time, including figures from the left and right of the party, signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire.
One Labour councillor had planned to raise reports that a family living in the borough had lost 25 of their relatives in an Israeli attack, and that Anthony Okereke, the council leader, had agreed to respond.
But they did not get the chance because questions from councillors were cancelled after the half-hour break.
Some councillors who had backed the activists’ silence — including Majella Anning (Creekside), and Asli Mohammed (Woolwich Dockyard) – did not return after the break, while those that remained appeared distracted with many tapping away on their phones and tablets.
Even the council leader seemed flustered – Okereke gave the wrong speech when responding to an item about the town hall’s accounts, believing the meeting was further ahead than it actually was.
The council meeting ended at 9.30pm — meaning there would have been time for public questions if they had been allowed. Former council leader Danny Thorpe raised this at the end of the meeting, saying: “A lot of people were caught up in the disruption tonight and that needs to be sorted out.”
Greenwich Council has said that those who asked questions will get a written response and will be welcome to resubmit their questions at the next meeting, on February 21.
One supporter of the demonstration told The Greenwich Wire that “sadly, a few people wanted to cause trouble for the sake of it”.
“Some of the Labour councillors had worked hard to persuade the council leadership to change its position after it had refused to accept motions,” they said.
“All the disruption did was give them an excuse to cancel the questions.”
A council spokesperson told The Greenwich Wire: “We empathise with the strong feelings provoked by the devastating situation occurring in Israel and Gaza and understand that people want to use their democratic right to have their voice heard.
“At the beginning of the meeting the mayor made clear the expectations in terms of behaviour and that in the event of a disturbance or disruption he reserved the right to adjourn the meeting and clear the chamber. It was disappointing that a minority of those in attendance behaved in such a way that the mayor was left with no alternative but to adjourn the meeting and clear the chamber.
“The council received no notice that anyone attending planned to hold their own one minute’s silence. We held two one-minute silences including one to remember all the victims of genocides across the world and we would have gladly held another if the mayor had been formally notified in advance.”
As well as the minute’s silence for Holocaust Memorial Day a second silence was held for Anna Townend, a campaigner with the Greenwich Environment Forum, and for Robin Henderson, a former Conservative councillor, both of whom had died recently.
Updated at 5.30pm to include Greenwich Council comment about holding a minute’s silence and amended further on Friday to remove the name of a councillor who has told us their reason for leaving early was unrelated to the fracas. Amended further on Monday to clarify that it was Lubna Speitan who called for the minute’s silence.
The Greenwich Wire was the only media outlet present at Woolwich Town Hall last night. Thank you to those who support us and make our reporting possible.
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