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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - An Atlanta City Council member and security guard are at odds over an incident that ended in police intervention at Oakland Cemetery on this past Friday night.

Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari said she was defending her friends when she pushed the security guard. But the guard, Antony Montfort, claims Bakhtiari abused her power and got him fired.

According to an incident report acquired by Atlanta News First, Atlanta police responded to the cemetery along Oakland Avenue around 8:40 p.m. on Oct. 4. Both Bakhtiari and Montfort were questioned by police, and both had different stories to tell about what happened.

Montfort, 54, told officers his director asked him to investigate loud voices in the cemetery Friday evening, which was closed to the public at the time. He told police he did not have a flashlight but yelled at the group to “pack it up,” according to the incident report.

“She stood up and said, who the [expletive] is that? I said Dynamic Security,” Montfort told Atlanta News First. “And this lady here, she put her hands on me. She was like, ‘I’m telling you, you don’t yell at me. You don’t yell at me. I’m a councilwoman. I’m going to have your job.’ And all of that. And then I was like, ‘Lady, get your hand out of my face.’ That’s when she pushed me.”

Montfort told police that she also knocked his hat off and hit him on the forehead. He said he did not need medical assistance and was not injured.

Montfort didn’t press charges against Bakhtiari because he did not believe he would lose his job at the time and was intimidated to press charges against a city official, he told Atlanta News First.

“I kind of had a little fear. Like, how am I going to go against the city?” he said. “Of course she can pull strings like she did. I’m a regular security guard.”

Montfort told Atlanta News First he regrets not pressing charges and is considering legal action.

Atlanta News First reached out to Dynamic Security, the contractor that employed Montfort.

“No comment,” a staff member told Atlanta News First over the phone.

Meanwhile, Bakhtiari told police her group had received permission from park officials to be on the property after hours, as they were celebrating a wedding proposal.

Montfort said he was not aware of the special approval before the incident.

In the report, Bakhtiari said she told another officer earlier they would be leaving soon. The group then reported seeing an unidentified man walking toward them in the darkness.

The figure yelled at them to “get the [expletive] out of the park,” according to the incident report. Bakhtiari reported she was “very scared” and “couldn’t tell if he was holding a gun or bat.”

“She stated that she immediately thought she was in danger and wanted to protect her friends so stood out in front of them,” according to the incident report.

Two members of the group also told police that Bakhtiari “stood out in front of them and told [Montfort] that they were actively leaving and to stop yelling at them.”

As he continued getting closer, Bakhtiari told police she pushed him back away from her, according to the report.

According to the other group members, Montfort got close enough to Bakhtiari to burn her with a cigarette he was holding, as detailed in the police report. Montfort denies burning the councilmember.

Bakhtiari told Atlanta News First she does not regret pushing the guard.

“Like most, when an aggressor enters one’s personal space, I responded. My actions were not violent, they were defensive, and I appreciate that the guard deescalated afterwards,” she wrote in an email to Atlanta News First on Wednesday evening. “I absolutely do not apologize for trying to protect my friends against an unidentified person in a cemetery at night.”

Bakhtiari also said everyone involved could have communicated better.

“This wedding proposal was permitted by the Historic Oakland Foundation, and it’s upsetting that this misunderstanding between management and security spoiled an otherwise beautiful engagement in one of Atlanta’s most iconic landscapes,” she wrote.

The councilmember addressed the incident in a social media post on Thursday afternoon.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the councilmember denied the claim that Bakhtiari used her power as a public official against the guard.

“That’s just not the case, and there’s no mention of that anywhere in the police report. It is really unfortunate to learn that this individual was dismissed from his job; however, Councilmember Bakhtiari has neither the authority nor insight into this private company’s disciplinary actions,” he wrote.

Bakhtiari was elected to the Atlanta City Council in November 2021, becoming the first LGBTQ Muslim elected in the state of Georgia. In September, she announced that she was running for re-election, with her current term ending January 2026.

Atlanta News First reached out to the Oakland Cemetery about the incident. We have not heard back yet.