Lancashire Evening Post: Angry scenes as officers eject protestors

Angry scenes as officers eject protestors from meeting

Published on Fri Feb 18 14:42:43 GMT 2011

Police ejected protestors from County Hall as politicians voted through £179 million cuts at an extraordinary budget meeting.

The tense meeting had to be halted twice, once when police were called to clear the public gallery and, again, when a fire alarm was activated an hour later, sparking a mass evacuation of the staff, councillors and members of the public.

It was the first time in 20 years that the gallery had been cleared.

During the meeting, Conservative county council leader Geoff Driver was involved in a spat with anti-cuts protestors, who he later branded "unruly louts."