A council meeting in Adelaide's south descended into chaos last night when protesters allegedly tried to enter the chamber, with councillors and staff moved to another area for safety.
Police were called to the City of Onkaparinga meeting in Noarlunga Centre and removed some members of the public after disruptions that began over sound issues.
Onkaparinga Mayor Moira Were said the council's proposed declaration of a climate emergency generated "a lot of interest" on social media.
"It was a key issue during the election campaign and tonight's agenda item to discuss declaring a climate emergency raised further interest," she said in a statement.
"We look forward to the opportunity for this issue to be discussed in a robust, transparent but most importantly, a safe manner."
Ms Were told ABC Radio Adelaide that about 80 to 100 people had gathered outside an already full chamber, but audio issues meant they could not properly hear the meeting from another room.
Ms Were said that led to "disruptive and aggressive behaviour from members of the public", and the meeting was adjourned.
"A number of people I know who've spoken to me and rang me last night after the meeting and indeed some people I actually saw after the meeting were pushed and shoved physically, and they were also verbally abused," she said.
Ms Were said councillors and staff were moved into a different space for safety.
Former councillor 'appalled'
Former councillor and mayoral candidate Simon McMahon attended the meeting and said he was "really appalled" by some of the behaviour he witnessed.
He said he immediately noticed it "wasn't an ordinary council meeting".
"You sort of noticed a few things that were a bit different," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"People wearing body cameras and GoPros and to me that's a sign that people are coming in with an intention to cause chaos because they were to film it."
Mr McMahon said at one stage some people "started charging towards the council chambers".
SA Police said while protesters were removed from the meeting, there were no arrests.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said debate should be "thoughtful and conciliatory and engaging" but he did not think images of the protest he had seen "accord with that set of values".
'No possibility' of intimidation
Another former mayoral candidate, Mark Nielsen, had been planning to speak at the meeting against declaring a climate emergency.
He said he had contacted a few people about attending as well, but then that "snowballed" to between 150 and 200.
However, he said only three or four members of his group were in the chamber and the only disruption was from someone who came in and yelled that they could not hear anything in the other room.
"All the noise was outside," Mr Nielsen said.
"There was a security guard there, there was a locked door — nobody could get in — so there was absolutely no possibility of anybody being intimidated."
Ms Were said details of the next meeting would be available on the council's website in "due course".
"We know our community cares about this issue —81 per cent of respondents to our 2021 Community Survey agreed that 'not addressing climate change would be a risk to our city'," she said in a statement.
"This tells us our community want to discuss this issue and we're working towards a solution where we can resume the meeting in a safe manner to progress this."
