Shocking moment City Hall is forced to halt proceedings during a quizzing of Sadiq Khan after ‘an envelope stuffed with papers’ is thrown towards the London mayor as a man shouts: ‘Answer the questions!’
The London Assembly was today forced to halt a quizzing of the capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan after an envelope appeared to be thrown from the public gallery.
A session of Mayor’s Question Time was adjourned for five minutes after Labour member Sem Moema called for a stop to proceedings.
She shouted out: ‘Can we stop please? Someone has just thrown something at me.’
Andrew Boff, the London Assembly chair, duly ordered a pause to the grilling of Mr Khan as the incident was dealt with.
‘Don’t touch that,’ Mr Boff advised Ms Moema, as she was seen crouching down towards a white package.
He added: ‘Could we get a security guard in here to deal with this? That’s it, we’re going to adjourn for five minutes.’
The object – seemingly thrown from the public gallery into the chamber – had been removed when the meeting recommenced later, with Mr Khan continuing an answer he had been giving prior to the interruption.
The London Assembly was forced to halt a quizzing of the capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan after an envelope appeared to be thrown from the public gallery
A session of Mayor’s Question Time was adjourned for five minutes after Labour member Sem Moema called for a stop to proceedings
Speaking after the session of Mayor’s Question Time, Conservative AM Susan Hall told MailOnline the object was ‘an envelope with what looked like papers in it’.
Mrs Hall revealed a man was shouting ‘answer the questions Sadiq, answer the questions’ as he left via a door.
She added that someone outside the City Hall building was also screaming ‘answer the questions’.
Although the object appeared to be ‘an envelope with papers in it’, she noted: ‘It did make a hell of a thud when it landed.’
Mrs Hall – who is the Tory candidate to replace Mr Khan at next year’s mayoral election – questioned City Hall security arrangements, if someone had been able to throw an object towards Assembly Members.
But she also described how everyone visiting the building is required to pass through airport-style scanners before entry.
A spokesperson for the Greater London Authority, said: ‘Mayor’s Question Time was briefly adjourned after some paper was thrown into the chamber.
‘The person was escorted out by City Hall security and the meeting restarted after checks confirmed the location was secure.’
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