News / bristol city council
Flare set off in council meeting
A distraught mum who says her daughter was “failed by social services” set off a flare in City Hall in protest at mental health cuts.
Visibly upset and shaking, the protester let off a smoking red canister in the middle of a packed council budget meeting.
She said that her daughter had killed herself due to failures in the system and called on mayor Marvin Rees not to make budget cuts in these areas.
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Shouting from the public gallery on Tuesday afternoon, the distraught woman said: “She was failed by the mental health services and social services. If you make any cuts to those services then you are going to have a helluva lot of blood in this council room.”
People, including some sympathetic councillors, quickly surrounded her and the meeting remained suspended while the woman went to talk things through privately with Rees.
Windows were opened in the council chamber and fans brought in to help clear the lingering red smoke.
A red haze floated across the council chamber
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