Advocates for the homeless who are pushing to roll back Denver’s controversial urban camping ban disrupted the City Council’s meeting Monday, shouting demands for repeal.

That wasn’t the only appeal on a night that included a hearing on next year’s budget.

The homeless demonstration, led by Occupy Denver activists, began on the City and County Building’s steps. Organizer Laura Avant said her petition on the Care2 activism website had signatures from more than 13,500 people — mostly from outside Colorado — asking for a repeal of the 3-year-old ordinance. She said the group was trying to draw national attention.

City officials contend the ordinance has been a useful tool to connect people on the streets with assistance and shelter, but activists say it has intimidated the homeless, pushing many to find places to sleep that are hidden and less safe.

After issuing no citations in 2012 or 2013, Denver police data show 15 citations or warnings last year and two so far this year.

“While they might not actually be put in jail, the homeless are forced to move on,” with no place to go and too few shelter beds added, Avant said. “We say the time for talking is over, and the time for repeal is now.”

Members of Denver Homeless Out Loud also participated in the demonstration. That group has criticized police and the Denver Housing Authority for taking down “tiny houses” they tried to erect Saturday on DHA property at 25th and Lawrence streets. Ten activists were arrested.

Behind Avant, a man in a police officer costume destroyed a small cardboard house.

Upstairs, Avant and a couple dozen activists entered the council’s chamber before a rezoning hearing. Council president Chris Herndon abruptly called a recess. He was among a few council members who left the room while the activists yelled, “Repeal the urban camping ban!”

Just now: #DenverCouncil President Herndon abruptly calls recess as Occupy activists present camping ban petition. pic.twitter.com/Q3In6wHcGA — Jon Murray (@JonMurray) October 27, 2015

Avant dropped a binder containing the petition signatures on Herndon’s desk. For several minutes, the demonstrators implored the council members “to do what is right.”

When the council meeting reconvened and Herndon apologized for “the inconvenience,” a woman yelled, “Homeless people are not inconvenient!” The demonstration then ended.

Avant and others argue that the city is risking millions of dollars in federal housing funding because of new scoring criteria that penalize cities that don’t work to reduce the criminalization of homelessness.

A Denver Human Services spokeswoman says officials don’t think the city is at risk of losing money, citing several efforts aimed at expanding housing and services and helping homeless people in the criminal justice system.

Later, during a public hearing on the proposed $1.8 billion operating budget for next year, other people asked the city to pay for a rail safety study and questioned $24 million earmarked for jail staffing and reforms, demanding accountability.

“Not one penny … is going to reduction of the inmate population,” to aid with reintegration after jail or to address racial disparities, said Lisa Calderon of the Colorado Latino Forum.

The forum and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition also have asked the council to require the sheriff’s department to estimate all coming costs for consultants’ reform recommendations to combat a jail abuse scandal.