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A young child holds a sign outside of Rep. Bradley Byrne's town hall.

(Christopher Harress)

Hundreds of people were denied entry into Alabama Congressman Bradley Byrne's town hall meeting in Mobile Monday night, with locals and advocacy group leaders claiming that the Representative from Alabama's first congressional district was hiding from his constituents and had selected a small venue so he could control what was expected to be a hostile crowd.

"It's disgraceful that there are as many people stranded out here as there are inside," said Mark Perez, a Mobile local. "He should have known given what's going all over the country that there would be a big crowd. He should have picked a bigger venue. He can't hide from us like this."

With a line of more than 200 people snaking its way around the parking lot of the Via Health, Fitness and Enrichment Center on Dauphin Street, Police announced through a loudspeaker 10 minutes before the event was to begin at 5:30 p.m. that the venue had reached its capacity of 250 people. A further 250 were stranded outside.

A spokesperson for Rep. Byrne told AL.com in an email that there was more than 250 in the venue and that it had been expanded from the original capacity of 125 when officials saw the long lines in the parking lot. "We have held town halls in this location before, and it worked smoothly so we used it again."

According to the email, Byrne has held over 75 town hall meetings during his time as a Congressman and expects to hold "a slate of meetings" in April. The spokesperson also denied that Rep. Byrne was afraid to meet with constituents.

A protester at Rep. Bradley Byrne's town hall.

As Byrne spoke inside, a large group of people crowded the front entrance of the venue to seek answers on why they couldn't gain access. Others made their way into the town hall via a fire exit that was accidentally left open.

One elderly woman who was near the front of the line when it was announced that no one else would be allowed in claimed that a police officer threatened to arrest her if she did not move away from the front of the building. "He said he would arrest me if I didn't move from the portico," said Jo Lynn Johnson, 71, from Daphne. "I said 'shame on you.'"

Lieutenant Christopher Berra of the Mobile Police Department denied threatening to arrest the retiree.

As outrage grew, signs of protest were lofted in the air. One called for an investigation into Russia's alleged involvement in the U.S. election, while others protested President Donald Trump's policies on immigration, education, and women's health.

Two protesters at Rep. Bradley Byrne's town hall meeting.

Mari Ponder, President of the South Alabama League of Student Voters said that her organization and others will invite Rep. Byrne to host a town hall at a much larger venue in the future. Ponder said she would happily book a hall at the University of South Alabama, which can hold 500 people, she claimed. Ponder began taking the names and zip codes of all the people that could not access the event. By final count, Ponder said that there were 201 names on the list, but people in the crowd claimed that at least 50 people had left before the list was circulated.

President of the South Alabama League of Student Voters takes the names of those that didn't make it in to Rep. Bradley Byrne's town hall.

Pat Siano, a representative of Indivisible Alabama, a nationwide grassroots resistance to the policies of the Trump administration, said that she was disappointed with Byrne's lack of forethought leading up to the event.

"I think he selected a small venue so he wouldn't have to face his angry constituents," said Siano. "But we are proud of him for coming out and talking about the issues, I just wish he'd made sure that we could have all been allowed in."