A crowd protests outside Wayne State University Law School after being shut out of a meeting with Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr on Monday, June 10, 2013.

DETROIT, MI – A crowd of at least 100 people were shut out of a meeting with Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr on Monday after the auditorium at Wayne State University Law School reached capacity.

The gathering was organized to satisfy state law, which requires public meetings to allow residents a chance to engage the emergency manager, who was appointed in March to address Detroit's budget deficit and crippling long-term debt.

As the meeting began around 6:30 p.m., security officials told a crowd jammed between the first and second set of doors of the building’s entrance that the auditorium had reached its limit of about 260 people.

Frustrated residents exited slowly and Wayne State police physically removed a pair of news reporters from the building, leaving one with scrapes and a broken camera.

“I came to hear what he had to say,” said Maurice Black, 42, of Detroit after being turned away. “I’m a supporter of the man, but he’s scared. He doesn't want to hear from the public.”

Much of the crowd stayed outside the building to protest, criticizing Orr for not choosing a larger venue.

“I wasn't expecting this kind of breach of democracy,” said Detroit resident Lila Cabbil. “It should have been set up to accommodate the people.”

Reuters reporter Steve Neavling was recording video of the exiting crowd and the physical removal of another reporter when a Wayne State police officer forcefully pushed him out of the building, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“I wanted to make sure it was done in a civil manner… and the guy literally throws me through the door,” Neavling said.

A Wayne State Police supervisor at the scene decline to speak to reporters.

Orr, meanwhile spoke in the meeting about making full use of either his broad powers under the state emergency manager law or Chapter 9 bankruptcy to address the city’s finances.

“I have a very powerful statute. I have an even more powerful Chapter 9,” he said. “I don't want to use it, but I am going to accomplish this job. That is going to happen. “

Orr plans to spend the coming weeks trying to renegotiate the city’s debt with creditors.

“In the next six weeks, we're going to find if we have true partners in peace, or we have to go another route,” he said. "I'll use all tools available to me to get the job done."

More from the meeting: Orr plans to pursue Belle Isle lease, says bankruptcy odds are 50/50

MLive Detroit editor Dustin Block contributed to this report.



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