LOS ANGELES — The City Council Friday approved a motion calling for a report on threatening flyers and antisemitic messages with the intent of introducing harsher penalties for that crime.

Council members voted 12-0 on the matter, requesting a closer look at how often threatening flyers are being disseminated to Latino, LGBTQ, Black and other minority groups, and antisemitic messages as well. The goal is to see if there are opportunities to increase or enhance the penalties for this kind of hateful action, according to Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who introduced the motion alongside Nithya Raman on Oct. 20.

Council members Curren Price, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Heather Hutt were absent during the vote.

"This item is simply about looking at the issues of hate flyers," Blumenfield said prior to the vote. "Hate flyers that are dedicated to all sorts of folks because of their perceived identity or nationality."

He added, "If you send a hateful flyer with the intent to intimidate someone, that is more than literate, than we must have some other tool in our arsenal to deal with that and to help prevent that kind of hate targeting."

About a handful of protesters, who were appalled and frustrated that there was no opportunity for public comment on the item, disrupted the meeting for a few minutes.

According to Council President Paul Krekorian, the item had received enough public comment when it was heard at the Public Safety Committee on Nov. 29.

Krekorian ordered Los Angeles Police Department officers in Council Chambers to remove a handful of protesters and pro-Palestine supporters, pursuant to Rule 12 -- which regulates meeting decorum.

Among them was Hamid Khan, an organizer with Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. Khan, who was on the opposite side of the room, yelled at council members for voting on the item without hearing more from opponents and concerned constituents.

He reiterated the issue was that the motion could be used as an attack on free speech and pro-Palestine messaging in the city.

In his comments, Blumenfield said it's a complicated First Amendment issue.

"We want to make sure that people can say whatever hateful things they want to say — and you can do that in the town square, online or in other places — but when you cross that threshold, and you start sending that hate into someone else's sanctuary into their front step, that is something different that is no longer about free speech," Blumenfield said.

The motion called for an increase in penalties rather than a misdemeanor for any person to litter "in mass" as a method to disseminate hate speech.

The council's Public Safety Committee previously approved the matter in late November. The motion came amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and as the U.S. has seen an increase of hate speech and attacks on the Jewish community and Palestinian people, as well.

"The deliberate mass dissemination of (flyers), pamphlets and letters as litter to deliver antisemitic messaging is sadly becoming a common occurrence nationwide with recent incidents locally in Culver City, Brentwood, Beverly Hills and Huntington Beach," the motion reads.

During the committee meeting, opponents of the motion also shared they would feel unsafe if the motion went forward — not trusting that LAPD would be able to enforce the measure.

Many of the speakers asked council members to better define what would be considered antisemitism by law enforcement.

Opponents of the motion and pro-Palestine supporters rallied outside of City Hall Friday and discussed their thoughts on the motion, encouraging attendees to voice their opinion during public comment.

However, as many of them were removed from Council Chambers, they were unable to address City Council members in person.