CLEVELAND — For the last few weeks, the war in the Middle East has brought heated public comments to Cleveland City Council meetings, with Palestinian supporters demanding legislators take a stand against Israel.
At a Public Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday, some councilmembers expressed they now feel unsafe at the meetings, with one even saying he's considering arming himself with a gun.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators spoke up at Monday's Council meeting, but even after the period of public comment was over, they disrupted Council business with outbursts and chants.
At Wednesday's committee meeting, Chairman Michael Polensek said he thinks it's the worst he's ever seen.
"What I saw Monday night totally concerned me and outraged me," Polensek, who represents Ward 8, said. "Threats being made against councilmembers, calling members murderers and killers and supporters of genocide, members in the back row of the Council chamber personally afraid, members of the Council staff personally afraid, some members of the administration afraid."
He further called it "unacceptable."
"We've got to make sure that there is safety for the councilmembers, the [mayoral] administration, and the public that is coming to peacefully — under the public comment section — to peacefully express their thoughts and opinions, whether any of us agree with it or not."
Cleveland Public Safety Director Karrie Howard was in attendance at Wednesday's meeting and detailed the city's response to such concerns.
"As we have had over the last several council meetings, we have had special safety measures put in place," he said. "We've had additional officers; I think there were approximately 25, 30 police officers at City Hall at that time. It was loud, our officers were present, our officers were on both sides of the hallway.
"It was loud, it was disruptive, but the perception that we had had was our offices would act in danger. Our officers are there to make sure that property is safe, that persons are safe, and anyone who after the meeting feels unsafe, our officers are there to escort them to their vehicles."
Howard then spoke about freedom of speech.
"Expressions of the First Amendment oftentimes make us uncomfortable," he said. "Expressions of First Amendment oftentimes are loud and disruptive, and our officers are there to do and carry out their duties constitutionally and within the realm of the law, and we will continue to do so.”
Ward 7 Councilwoman Stephanie Howse-Jones reminded her colleagues that people are hurting right now.
"We are in a time where people are in a level of real pain and anger," she expressed. "It does not help to minimize the real pain and trauma that people are going through in many of the conversations. We hear about what happens when hurt people hurt people. I really think we need to look at this and, as the one person indicated, you have had people within our community who have directly died as a result of this global tragedy."
But Councilman Joe Jones (Ward 1) stressed that while he understands that people are in pain, the meetings have been traumatizing to him.
"If they can come down here and be civil, we don't have a problem with that. But when you disrupt counsel and you make people like me who [are] already traumatized feel unsafe, now I've got to think about going to buy me a gun, go buy and purchase a gun," he said. "And so, Mr. Chairman, I never had to think about that. I even told the safety chairman today, 'I'm going to have to go buy me a gun now, because I'm not going to come down here and let you disturb my peace and break me up and put a bomb up under my car.'"
3News reached out to Jones Thursday about his comment. He responded that he's been told by Cleveland police he can't bring a gun into City Hall, but that he was "more so just driving home the point that he's been feeling unsafe at recent meetings and wants something done about it." He also claimed multiple councilmembers also currently feel unsafe, and his hope is that citizens will allow Council to conduct business in peace once the period of public comment is over.
On Thursday, WKYC also reached out to Cleveland City Council Director of Communications Darryle Torbert. He pointed us back to the comments that Public Safety Director Karrie Howard had made the day prior.
Councilmembers are considering changes to the public comment portion of meetings, including limiting remarks "to one item currently under consideration by Council." The draft of proposed changes removes concerns regarding "indecent or discriminatory language" and instead prohibits comments that are "frivolous, repetitive or harassing in nature" and "language that is obscene or threatening."
In response to a request from 3News earlier this month, City Council Chief of Communications Joan Mazzolini said, "The new Rules and Procedures for Public Comment will place reasonable regulations on the time, place, manner and content of public comment, as a limited public forum may do under the law. The new Rules and Procedures will not regulate speech based on viewpoint, including whether it is considered disrespectful, or whether it is critical of government or government officials."