Charlotte City Council chambers cleared after crowd gets heated over Israel-Hamas war
Charlotte City Council chambers were cleared during Monday’s meeting after a woman refused to comply with orders to leave the premises. The incident happened during the meeting’s public forum — when residents can sign up to speak to the council on various topics — during which multiple people were signed up to talk about the Israel-Hamas war.
Two speakers, Khalid Blata and Deana Fayed, addressed the City Council and shared their experiences as Palestinian-Americans before things became unruly, with members of the crowd shouting and a speaker refusing to yield the microphone.
That’s when Mayor Vi Lyles recessed the meeting for the first time, sending members out of the chamber as some in the crowd chanted “shame,” while staying behind to address the crowd.
“I would really like for us to be able to hear from everyone … We all aren’t going to agree, but we can treat each other with respect and dignity,” she said. “... We have speakers who have signed up to be heard, and many of you represent the positions that they take, but you’re not letting them be heard. The voice of this is greater than this room, but there is also a diversity in this room.”
Lyles said the meeting would reconvene after a two-minute cool-down but if things became unruly again, the chamber would be emptied.
Some in the crowd encouraged others to comply, saying everyone who signed up to speak deserved a chance to be heard.
Things did reconvene long enough for one more speaker, Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte CEO Sue Worrel, to begin to speak. But a young woman sitting in the row of chairs behind the microphones being used continued to shout “genocide” over her.
“There are no two sides in genocide. There’s no neutrality,” the woman shouted as Worrel concluded her comments.
Lyles and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer asked the woman to leave, and she refused, repeatedly asking under what grounds she was being removed. The mayor then recessed the meeting once more and ordered the chambers to be cleared.
Multiple other members of the crowd pleaded with the woman to leave so that things could proceed.
“We are in pain, we are hurt. Please comply and listen … Please cooperate. We have worked very hard, and they’re giving us a platform to speak,” one woman in the crowd said.
The woman who was shouting did ultimately leave alongside others in the chamber, with a CMPD officer telling her she would not be arrested if she left voluntarily.
In a statement, the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte thanked city leaders and CMPD for prioritizing safety and “continuing to serve the interests of all of Charlotte’s citizens.”
“While we recognize that the actions of last night’s disruptors are not reflective of the Charlotte community, we must speak out when there are clear attempts to silence Jewish voices. Regardless of one’s stance on this conflict, there is no room for rhetoric or actions that serve to demonize the other side or justify violence against them,” the federation’s statement said.
Outspoken voices on Israel-Hamas war in Charlotte
It’s not the first time the conflict in the Middle East has come up in front of governing bodies in Charlotte since the latest Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7.
Multiple community members spoke during the City Council’s Nov. 27 meeting to ask the council to pass a resolution in support of Palestine. And in mid-October, Mecklenburg County commissioners passed a resolution to condemn recent violence in Israel after hearing from speakers from the county’s Palestinian and Jewish communities.
Lyles had cautioned the council before Monday’s meeting that the chamber was at capacity, with many folks signed up to speak about the war, and to remember what to do if they had to recess.
As council members reconvened in another room, Lyles could be heard saying she will send a letter reaffirming that the City Council doesn’t consider resolutions of a political nature.
The council regrouped in the Government Center meeting room usually used for committee meetings to quickly finish out their agenda and go into closed session, where they were expected to watch body camera footage of a controversial CMPD arrest.
This story was originally published December 11, 2023 at 8:50 PM.
