Protestors in Smyrna shut down a City Council meeting on Monday about 12 minutes after it started.
According to an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon shut down the meeting following another protest led by the mother of a black man who was killed by a Smyrna police officer about a year ago.
This is the second City Council meeting in two months the protestors have attended.
Following prayer time, Bacon asked if any candidates running for office would like to come forward to introduce themselves. Felicia Thomas, mother of the late Nick Thomas, stepped up to the microphone and refused to step away, according to the article.
Thomas told the crowd that she would like to run for mayor, that it’s time for change.
“We want to vote you out of office,” Thomas said, according to the AJC article. “How could you promote an officer? You killed my child. The blood is in your seat, that red seat you’re sitting in. We want Kenneth Owens fired. We have the agenda. You’re not going to tell me to sit down. This is not the plantation.”
Other people attending the meeting called out in support of Thomas while she reportedly yelled out “Shame on you, Mr. Mayor.” Bacon then reportedly told the Smyrna police officers who stood along the front of the room to move the protestors out and then called for a recess.
After the motion and vote, Bacon and the City Council members left while several audience members continued to chant, “Black lives matter,” according to the article.
The last time the group shut down a Smyrna City Council meeting was on Feb. 15, following the controversial promotion of the Smyrna officer who shot and killed 23-year-old Nicholas Thomas last March.
Sgt. Kenneth Owens was promoted to Lieutenant that night during a city council meeting. Protestors began shouting during the ceremony and according to the AJC, city council members had to be escorted out of city hall due to the commotion.
The protestors were rallying behind the family of Thomas, who was shot and killed by Owens when police went to serve an arrest warrant last March. Thomas was working at the Cumberland Goodyear at that time and before the warrant could be served, took off in a customer’s vehicle. He left the store and got into a white, four-door Maserati, police said.
Owens was the only officer to fire his gun as Thomas attempted to drive away in the customer’s car, which was the first time he had fired at anyone during his police career, Smyrna police to the AJC.