Westword: Across metro Denver, city councils have been grappling with how to handle groups that try to take over meetings through the public comment period.

In Denver, it’s happened three times over the past six months. In October, advocates for people experiencing homelessness delayed a Monday council meeting for hours. In November, a group of pro-Palestine protesters demanded that all eighty people who had signed up be allowed to speak out against a conference in Denver organized by Jewish National Fund-USA.

“We had so many people, and I was very determined that every person was going to speak and have their opportunity to speak,” says Shannon Hoffman, a former council candidate who helped organize the November action.

Instead, Denver City Council President Jamie Torres adjourned the meeting, pushing back several rezoning hearings to the next week.

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