This is the moment a public meeting descended into chaos after one councillor called another ‘a Nazi’ during a heated row over the green belt.
Police were called to an ‘explosive’ argument between the pair at the Oldham Council meeting after two councillors from the same party started ‘squaring up’ to each other.
The heated row broke out during a debate about a ‘controversial’ Places for Everyone housing scheme.
After insults of ‘dictator’ and ‘Nazi sympathiser’ were hurled, the meeting was aborted and a riot van turned up outside the council building in Greater Manchester.
has contacted police for comment.
Footage shows Oldham Mayor Zahid Chauhan calling for calm before the councillors start shouting at each other in chaotic scenes.
Shouts of ‘take that back’ and ‘we all heard what he said’ can be heard in the chamber before the meeting was paused for nearly two hours.
Independent Councillor Marc Hince claims he was called a Nazi because he attended a World War Two party years ago dressed as a German soldier.
He later said: ‘During last night’s full council meeting… two Conservative members called me a Nazi, without any reason or provocation. Something I find deeply offensive and absolutely uncalled for.
‘Naturally, I challenged the individual vociferously. However, I reflected on my actions and apologised unreservedly to all elected members and the chamber as a whole.
‘Unfortunately, despite requests from the mayor and their own Group Leader they refused to apologise,’ ITV News reported.
Oldham is expected to build 11,560 homes by 2039 after agreeing – alongside the majority of councils in the Greater Manchester combined authority – to allocate land for 115,000 new homes.
However, after Labour lost its ruling majority in the local elections, opposition members voted in favour of the the authority asking to leave the deal.
On Wednesday, councillors complained that Housing Secretary Angela Rayner had not yet been informed of Oldham’s ‘revocation’ of the scheme.
Earlier this year, Labour was accused of ‘totally misleading’ the public after it emerged that unspoilt green belt land could be flattened to meet its ambitious housebuilding targets.
The government announced in July – almost immediately after coming to power – that it plans to build 1.5 million new homes in the next five years.
Ministers admitted some land in the official green belt land would have to be built on, but said this would only be so-called ‘grey belt’ areas.
This is plots that were previously built on with uses such as petrol stations and car parks.
However an analysis of the proposed national planning policy framework (NPPF) shows that councils will have to free up other land if they do not have enough unused brownfield and ‘grey belt’ sites.
has contacted Oldham Council for comment.