THE council has been accused of “heavy handed” treatment of residents wanting to watch last night’s budget meeting.

Twice some of the 20 police officers on duty were called into the public gallery in the council chamber after outbursts from the crowd, angry at what one woman described as “a sham meeting”.

Residents were forced to queue in the cold outside the town hall before people were allowed in and bags were searched by security guards at the door.

Video from the public gallery has this morning been appearing on the internet, despite the security searches and Councillor Lynne Hillan saying it would not be allowed after calls from some bloggers.

Before the meeting got underway mayor Anthony Finn had pleaded with the public not to interfere with the debate.

After one outburst, which interrupted Councillor Robert Rams, talking about the One Barnet plans, he said: “This is not what democracy is about, it’s about us debating.” He was met with boos from the gallery.

John Burgess, the Barnet Unison secretary, was among a crowd not allowed into the public gallery, even when seats became available, and forced to listen to proceedings in a makeshift overflow room.

He told the Times Series: “It’s fair to say there was a lot of anger. There were not enough chairs for people and all we had was an audio feed, so we could not identify who was speaking.

“That really angered people, especially when news came through there were spaces in the main chamber. Police said we could go down so I went with 17 people but we were stopped at the door by officers.

“One man got quite agitated when a security guard grabbed his hand. It wasn’t the police who were causing the problems, there was a marked difference in approach.”

Despite pleas from Labour and Lib Dem councillors Cllr Finn refused to allow more people into the chamber, saying he had been advised by police not to.

Lib Dem councillors Sussette and Munroe Palmer also slammed the decision to call so many police officers to patrol the public meeting.

Lord Palmer said: “In 25 years I’ve never seen so many police and crime prevention officers meant to keep somebody in order. I’m sure some people in the Middle East could take lessons in crowd control from this council tonight.”

Afterwards he said he had spoken to the inspector in charge who told him he was “happy to let more people in, except for a group of five or so he had identified as troublemakers”.

He added: "This is revolution Barnet-style."

Afterwards Cllr Finn said: “I think everybody was sensible and there was a good debate. Really people were responsible and that’s the main thing.”

Labour leader Alison Moore described the council’s handling of the situation as “appalling” and accused it of having “contingency plans for moving to another room in private”.