Originally published by The Glass Gonad
City Hall’s security staff have been accused of punching a protester at last week’s Mayor’s Question Time.
Protesters from several activist groups were dragged out of the chamber when they began chanting over assembly members.
The protesters were pushing for Sadiq Khan to keep promises he made on the environment during his election campaign.
Speaking to the Glass Gonad, the activist James Granger said: “Security were a lot more heavy-handed than we expected. One of the people attending the protest actually got punched, which is not we expected at all.”
Granger, an attendant of the protest, added that the activists were “looking into making a complaint about the security at City Hall”.
In a press release published shortly after the protest, Switched on London said: “City Hall security officers forcefully and aggressively dragged the participants out of the public event.”
A statement from the London Assembly said: “Protesters caused disruption to the public Mayor’s Question Time meeting held on 16 November, to the extent that the meeting had to be adjourned.
“In accordance with protocol, GLA security staff were asked by the Chair of the meeting to remove from the public gallery at City Hall those who were preventing the meeting from proceeding.
“A GLA security officer was injured during the process of removing the protesters. A complaint about the actions of GLA security has also been received. We take that allegation seriously and are looking into it under our procedures.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “Mayor’s Question Time was disrupted last week by a number of protestors, forcing the meeting to be suspend for a few minutes.
“Security officers removed protestors from City Hall so that the session could continue.”
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