Baywalk managers now have the power to ban protests on their sidewalk. Staff file photo by WALLY PATANOW

ST. PETERSBURG - Confirming that Thursday's St. Petersburg City Council meeting about privatizing the Baywalk sidewalk would be controversial, two people were arrested after a fight broke out.

After the 5-3 vote to turn the sidewalk over to Baywalk managers, shouting began between two men, one of whom 76-year-old Fred Dudley, brother of councilman Bill Dudley.

Fred Dudley yelled " Why don't you move?" to a group arguing that the sidewalk should remain public. Ronald Deaton, 61, shouted back and the men then got into a fight in front of stunned council members. Police said both would charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Various local groups, most notably the Uhurus, have been using the sidewalk as a protest site. Managers of Baywalk, the city's downtown retail and entertainment complex, blame the protests in part for a 70 percent vacancy rate.

Thursday's vote to cede control over the sidewalk to BayWalk gives the complex's managers the power to ban protests at that site.