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Oakland City Leaders Enforce New Rules To Prevent Disruptions At City Council Meetings

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- When protesters chained themselves to a railing and shut down an Oakland City Council meeting last month, city leaders decided something needed to change.

The changes were put in place in time for Tuesday night's meeting at City Hall. Bags were searched at the only entrance.

Inside the chambers, the upper gallery was closed off completely and people were prohibited from standing along the back wall due to the fire code. Instead, attendees were ushered into overflow rooms, all while roughly four dozen Oakland police officers looked on.

Chief Sean Whent told KPIX 5 that this is what future city council meetings will look like.

"From what I'm hearing, it looks like City Hall wants to make this a permanent fixture, recognizing that security here has been lax and so they think it's appropriate to be consistent," Whent said. "So I think you'll see this going forward."

Monica Garcia, an Oakland resident, said the changes would have a chilling effect. "It's kind of intimidating. It's sort of a crackdown on free speech. It's a crackdown on public participation," Garcia said. "It discourages the citizenry from feeling involved and entitled, as is our right by The Constitution. And I think it's kind of reflective of what we've seen from this administration so far."

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