GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Grand Rapids City Commission meeting was again adjourned early Tuesday.
The meeting started around 7 p.m. Prior to the meeting, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss had asked protesters to follow the commission rules, after the April 26 meeting was ended early due to protesters.
“People have every right to express their anger and outrage. However, how the meeting ended was not acceptable. There were a lot of people here to be heard that weren’t able to be heard because we got shut down, and that’s not fair to them, either,” Bliss said of the shortened April 26 meeting.
During the meeting Tuesday, Bliss gave a warning to a man calling for justice Patrick Lyoya, saying if he keeps disrupting the meeting he would need to leave.
After the general public comment portion of the meeting got underway Bliss called for a short recess, saying speakers were using swear words and are out of order. Around 20 people were still lined up to speak.
Protesters then started chanting.
Bliss left, then returned briefly to adjourn the meeting for the evening.
Police have handcuffed a protester outside the building. Several dozen officers have appeared. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/T1QgC8xCzJ
— Kyle Mitchell (@JournalistKyle) May 11, 2022
Later, a News 8 crew on scene saw a protester handcuffed outside of the building and then taken away by police. The arrest happened after two people got into an altercation, the Grand Rapids Police Department said in a statement.
“There were no arrests made related to the disruption at tonight’s City Commission meeting. After the meeting was adjourned, outside of City Hall, two of the meeting attendees got into a physical altercation resulting in one arrest. No other arrests were made,” GRPD said.
