CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Before Mecklenburg County Commissioners moved to pass a $2.5 billion budget , protesters for an unrelated topic halted the meeting by releasing an unknown number of crickets.

Amid a community member speaking about gun violence concerns in Charlotte, a murmur started in the chambers prompting a halt to the meeting for several minutes because someone had released crickets inside.

“She dropped something from the balcony,” said one commissioner during the debacle.

A commissioner told WBTV they could not estimate how many crickets were released but said they were “everywhere on the walls, on the stairs” and also “in the balcony” and that they were released by a protester.

Mecklenburg Board of Commissioners Chair Mark Jerrell halted the meeting and said on the micr

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