BANGOR -- Local city council meetings have recently been interrupted with incessant hate speech by people in public comment sessions. A special meeting was held Monday to address those concerns and a councilor's controversial reaction.

"It just progressed to the point tonight where I had to shut it down, because seemed like anything that was coming out of Zoom was inappropriate," said interim Council Chair Richard Fournier, who suspended Zoom comments at Monday's special meeting due to the prevalence of hate speech.

That meeting began with a resolve by the council to condemn hate speech, a matter that passed unanimously.

Fournier says he hopes newly elected councilors might choose to implement restrictions on comment via Zoom in light of these events.

"If it was me, I would cancel al

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