PROTESTERS who swarmed into York’s council chamber and staged a noisy table-top campaign against service cuts have come under attack from two of the city’s political leaders.

The group leapt over Guildhall’s public gallery and stood in the centre of the room chanting anti-cuts slogans as City of York Council met on Thursday night to set the authority’s budget for 2011/12, which includes £21.1 million of savings and the loss of 170 jobs.

Despite police being called into the chamber, the five-minute protest ended peacefully, but the heads of the council’s Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups, whose members left the room during the interruption, have criticised the campaigners.

Lib Dem council leader Andrew Waller said: “This disruption did not aid democracy at all and one of the participants had already had two opportunities to speak, at a meeting of the council’s executive and the budget meeting.

“There were peaceful protests in St Helen’s Square before the meeting, but to disrupt democratic meetings like this is hardly democratic.”

And Conservative group leader Coun Ian Gillies branded the protest “hooligan behaviour”, saying: “Everybody has a right to protest and free speech, but by disrupting the meeting, these people were denying others free speech.

“It was entirely inappropriate, it was wrong to do it and they could have got their message across in a far better way.”

But Labour leader Coun James Alexander said: “One protester spoke at the meeting about mental health funding cuts and she was in tears. Although the disruption was unhelpful, these people felt frustrated at not being listened to and many more people in York feel the same. We were also told the time lost would not be added to the meeting – a few people on a table and the whole council comes to a standstill.”

The budget, which includes reductions to a string of services and the potential privatisation of others, was agreed after the Lib Dems backed a Conservative amendment to their proposals, while the two parties teamed up to defeat Labour plans which the party said would stave off just under £1 million in cuts.

A £1.4 million scheme for a new Acomb council office will be put on hold, while extra money has been promised for adult social care, flood defences, employment and apprenticeship schemes, training volunteers and free child care for disadvantaged youngsters.

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