Liverpool's council could be forgiven for thinking it can't do a thing right at the moment. Its first ever Christian Orthodox interfaith lunch – which became known as Porkgate after complaints about the council's menu choices – has now taken a new twist with criticisms that the council was heavy handed with security at the event.
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The Liverpool City Council had offended the Orthodox Macedonian community by leaving pork off the menu and then offended some Hindus because they left beef on the menu – now they are under fire for hiring security guards to monitor the luncheon guests.
With the community abuzz about the Porkgate affair, more than 600 people turned up for the free lunch – 100 more than expected – only to be greeted by a bunch of security guards at the door, followed later by a visit from police.
Nikola Stavreski, who runs the Macedonian news site Falanga, said he was followed around by the security guards while he was taking photographs.
"I felt discriminated against. It is not nice. I did not do anything wrong."
Mr Stavreski said he was shocked that the police were there as well.
Jim Dimovski, the president of the Macedonian Pensioners Association, said he did not see any police but remarked that the security was not necessary.
"It was insulting to us. We are peaceful people," he said.
Mr Dimovski said he had organised 90 pensioners to attend the lunch and they had a "beautiful" time. He said it was a great opportunity for different people to meet each other and he did not know of any reason for the tight security.
"It is unusual, I don't understand who would have done that or why?"
Last month, Fairfax Media reported on the scandal which erupted after the Macedonian community expressed their concerns that their traditional and important pork dish was being left off the menu. They were particularly upset because it was an Orthodox event and they wanted to share their special dishes.
When the furore erupted over the menu, the council swung into action and put pork back on the menu, took the beef off and offered other choices of chicken and vegetarian.
Hindu leader in the US, Rajan Zed, has since praised the council for taking beef off the menu – although one local observer wryly noted that there were no Hindus invited to the lunch.
A spokeswoman for the Liverpool council said that in the wake of the affair, threatening messages about the Liverpool mayor, Ned Mannoun, had been posted on social media and that is why police turned up at the event.
The spokeswoman also said that the security was not to keep an eye on guests but rather was required by the owners of the luncheon venue, because of the large number of people attending the event.
Now Fairfax Media understands questions on notice have been lodged at the council asking who arranged for the security, why, and at what cost? Other questions have been asked about whether security was hired for a previous Islamic interfaith event and whether guards will be hired for the upcoming mayoral ball.
