Chaos marked the Monday meeting of the Toronto city council as the Ford brothers engaged the crowd in a shouting match. The verbal battle was preceded by the filming of the public gallery which those present objected to.

YouTube/Rob Anthony

As a result, the meeting was temporarily stopped and Mayor Rob Ford, under fire for his drug habit, eventually ended up knocking over Councillor Pam McConnell while charging at a heckler in the audience.

Amid the heated exchange of words, the council debated on limiting the mayor's powers, including cut his office budget and move his staff beyond his control, due to his crack cocaine scandal.

Mr Ford insisted he is saving millions of dollars and it is taxpayers who are squandering money.

The mayor was eventually pulled away, but the mayor's brother got also into a shouting match with the crowd, accusing the audience of not being real Toronto residents.

The mayor later apologised to the councilor, a small woman and a grandmother, who suffered a swollen lip when he accidentally hit her to defend his brother.

Mr Ford accused councilors of a coup d'etat and dared those interested in his post to a snap election instead of stripping him of powers.

He later said in a radio interview, "If they want me out they should just call a snap election ... I'm willing to go to the polls right now."

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