CAMPAIGNERS protesting about the Middle East interrupted a council meeting.

Members of the Canterbury City Council's ruling executive committee were debating changes to the waste contract that would see contractor Veolia dealing with the district's rubbish. It already has the contract for Dover and Shepway and the councils have decided to work together.

But protestors accused the company of benefiting from illegal developments on Palestinian territories and dumping waste in Palestine in breach of a UN resolution.

Three public speakers made impassioned pleas for the debate – due to be held behind closed doors because it involved financial and commercial information – to take place in public. They said the firm prevented Palestinians travelling on its light railway but allowed Israelis to use it and compared the situation to apartheid.

They said the council could legally exclude businesses from bidding for contracts if they had ethical concerns about them. They were supported by protestors clutching placards saying: "Stop Israeli War Crimes."

But councillors voted to exclude the campaigners, and other members of the public, and discussed the £4.6 million a year contract in secret. They agreed to appoint Veolia as the preferred contractor.

Council head of neighbourhood services Larissa Laing said Veolia would accept the city council's waste and recycling as part of a contract with Kent County Council.

She said: "The council has the right to exclude certain companies from a competition for a contract. However, we are not choosing a contractor at this stage, because we are establishing whether we can join in to an existing contract where the contractor has already been chosen by Dover and Shepway.

"Even if those exclusions did apply, we do not think that activities in the Middle East by other companies relate to what we are considering in this contract."