WORCESTER, Mass. - Police arrested one person following a protest at Worcester’s City Council meeting Tuesday night.

City Manager Eric Batista said they're charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and vandalizing property.

It was the council's first meeting in nearly a month and ended in less than 30 minutes after people upset with recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city forced councilors into a recess. 

The "Abolish ICE’ rally was scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at city hall, standing in solidarity with Los Angeles, California.

Dozens of protesters held signs, shouted and chanted.

Worcester Mayor Joe Petty said he shares the same frustrations felt by protesters about the federal government, but disrupting local council meetings only disrupts the daily operations of people in the city.

"Enough is enough,” said Petty. “You know, I've been pretty generous with people's time, my time, letting people speak, but enough is enough. We're not going to allow this anymore. Either police are going to have to move them out of the chamber or we just have some contingency plans, where we go to another room and continue the meeting. You’re not supposed to protest at city hall, it's against the rules. No signs, nothing. So, I'm going to start enforcing that a little bit more than we have in the past. During covid a lot of the rules were relaxed and now people are taking advantage of that, both on the council side and in the public. So, we have to look at those and really tighten the rules up."

Mayor Petty said some were swearing at him, City Manager Eric Batista and Councilor Moe Bergman.

Councilor Bergman said the city needs to find a balance between letting people's voices be heard and getting work done at meetings.

"There were certainly much better ways to handle protesting issues than disrupting a city council meeting,” said Berman. “And quite frankly, we have to find ways to prevent this legally from happening in the future because we're not getting the city's work done. We respect the democratic process, but the democratic process has limitations as far as disturbing everybody else's right to be heard. So, it was unfortunate, disappointing, all too common of late, and we really need to find ways to make sure this doesn't happen again."

City Manager Eric Batista is reminding people of the city's longstanding policy regarding the use of city hall, which prevents protests, rallies and demonstrations from taking place inside the building.

He said while the policy hasn't previously been widely distributed, the city's making it publicly available and notifying people it'll be strictly enforced.

Batista said any person found in non-compliance with the policy will be subject to ejection, arrest or other violations.

The city said new security measures are going into effect at city hall, including security guards on the first floor and the installation of security scanners.

Security officers will screen visitors, patrol the facility and respond to incidents inside the building.

Mayor Petty is hopeful these new measures will also help deter protestors from entering the building.