Last week we witnessed extraordinary scenes not seen since the bad old days when Labour ran Islington Council.

Never did I think we would see the day when Labour councillors allowed the police to evict local residents protesting about the Labour council’s �52million cuts package from a town hall meeting.

Residents were urging councillors not to make cuts to council services, cuts that were ill-thought out, and hitting the boroughs elderly, young and poor.

But when the leader of the council was drowned out by chanting, police officers entered the public gallery, with the endorsement of the Labour council leader, and began to remove members of the public. I and my colleagues made it clear that the council was over reacting, and we didn’t agree with this cause of action.

The meeting descended into chaos and Labour councillors took fright and decided not to continue and held the the meeting in private. The decision to cut �52million of council services was then made in secret with no members of the public allowed to watch proceedings.

Last Thursday was a very sad day for democracy for Islington. Labour councillors clearly couldn’t take the heat when residents were aiming their fire at them.

To allow the police to use force to remove protesters, who were just making their point in a non-violent way as is their right, and denying residents a chance to ask questions speak volumes about how Labour wants to run the council. – Councillor Terry Stacy, Leader, Liberal Democrats, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1.