During today’s legislative meeting of the D.C. Council, a protester interrupted proceedings with a tirade against Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser regarding the construction of a Walmart in that ward. (A community activism group called Ward Four Thrives had been demonstrating outside the chambers this morning — check out some video of the tail end of the incident above.) The incident was rather quickly forgotten — after all, protesters have interrupted the Council before, and with testy budget hearings looming, they will most certainly interrupt them again in the future.

But just as Council Chair Kwame Brown was about to slam his gavel to end the meeting, Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) interjected to air his displeasure with the disruption, during which the protester threw ping pong balls featuring an anti-Walmart message at the dais. Citing concerns that such projectiles could “contain liquid,” Thomas suggested that some ropes be moved closer to the front of the dais in order to prevent such incidents from occurring.

I’m not sure what’s more ridiculous: the fact that Thomas infers that Wilson Building security is so inept that they wouldn’t be able to catch someone who was carrying harmful materials into the building, or his assertion that ropes would somehow erect a force field which would prevent someone from throwing said materials at Councilmembers.