Aurora city councilmembers passed another resolution Monday night changing public comment rules to limit how people can speak to their elected officials during meetings amidst ongoing protests.

The resolution passed with four ‘no’ votes from councilmembers Alison Coombs, Ruben Medina, Crystal Murillo and Angela Lawson after another tense public comment session, during which a group of protesters for Kilyn Lewis took over the microphone and spoke to councilmembers.

Councilmember Francoise Bergan proposed the resolution, which limits the number of people who can stand at the podium to one and allows councilmembers to attend meetings virtually whenever they choose.

“It’s always one person at the podium, that’s just respectful,” Bergan said. “It’s standard to have one person at the podium. We’ve had a group of people at the podium and that’s just disrespectful.”

Coombs countered that the rule brings into question issues with power balance between councilmembers and the public, saying members of the public should have the ability to support one another at the podium.

In the state legislature, people speaking at the podium are “frequently” surrounded by others, including members of the legislature, in the well, she said.

“What we’re saying as elected officials is that we are entitled to that support,” Coombs said. “We seem to believe that because we have the power to govern, that means we should have more power than the people who put us here.”

The vote came after months of back-and-forth between councilmembers and protesters for Lewis, who have attended every meeting since July to talk about Lewis and request that councilmembers take action to fire the officer who shot Lewis.

Lewis was shot and killed by an Aurora police officer who was trying to arrest him on a warrant for attempted murder. Lewis was unarmed. Both the district attorney and an internal Aurora Police Department investigation cleared the officer’s actions as justified.

Councilmembers have made various efforts to quiet the protesters, who have found ways to dodge those efforts and work around them.

Bergan’s resolution changes two aspects of public comment.

First, it states that only one person can speak at the podium at a time, adding that exceptions will be made for guardians if the speaker is a minor, for interpreters for someone accompanying a non-English speaker and for people with physical disabilities.

It also gets rid of the section in the council rules that only allows members to attend virtually in the case of a declared emergency or giving notice to the clerk 24 hours in advance.

Alli Jackson, who is running for city council, said at Monday night’s meeting that she strongly opposes the resolution, calling it “incredibly ironic” that the resolution was requested in the name of safety.

“There are armed officers throughout this room,” Jackson said. “If this council was truly concerned about public safety, you would be focused on reforming use of force policies that disproportionately harming Black, brown, immigrant and poor communities.”

She encouraged councilmembers to meet speakers with “presence, listening and community,” rather than trying to shut them down.

“None of this works without us,” Jackson said about the public. “We are not a threat, we are the public.”

Bergan countered that it is a safety issue because of the number of people police have to monitor when more than one person stands at the podium.

“Although we have police officers, they’re now having to watch 10 to 20 people at the podium instead of watching the audience,” Bergan said. “It is, in fact, a safety issue.”