ANDOVER - Anyone looking for a civil discussion of the Middle East conflict during last night's forum in the Andover High School library would have been sorely disappointed.

What they got instead was a mini civil war.

Many adults in the audience of more than 150 people taunted and laughed at the speakers from the pro-Palestinian group known as Wheels of Justice, who spoke about human rights abuses among Israelis and Palestinians and the violent Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. They showed slides of crying Palestinian children and a video of Israelis demolishing the homes of Palestinians.

The group made it through its whole presentation with few interruptions, but the room erupted into shouting and heckling during the question and answer session.

"They're liars," Somerville resident Gregory Solomon yelled at the speakers. "How can anyone believe them?"

One Wheels of Justice speaker was surprised by the outbursts.

"We've spoken to 200 high schools in the United States," said Mazin Qumsiyeh, as shouts echoed throughout the room. "We've spoken to a school in New York that was 80 percent Jewish, and had no problems. I really don't understand."

The crowd became so vocal that Principal Peter Anderson had to cut the event short, drawing complaints from a group of students in attendance.

"I couldn't even hear what they were saying half the time because ladies in front of me kept giggling," 17-year-old Lauren Hartel said. "The parents were so rude, I couldn't get anything out of it."

Some of the adults said Wheels of Justice is an extremist, anti-Israel organization.

"You've created a hostile environment in the high school," said Pam Lebowitz of Andover. "That's reckless behavior on the school's part. They invited an extreme hate group here and they didn't give time to the other side."

The group's visit is part of a series of forums on Middle East conflicts at Andover High, which Principal Peter Anderson announced last month. Anderson had called off a planned visit by Wheels of Justice in October, but he reversed his decision after teachers union President Tom Meyers threatened a First Amendment lawsuit. Students will hear from Middle East scholars from Harvard University next week.

During the day yesterday, Wheels of Justice speakers visited high school classrooms. The speakers went to six social studies classes, and only students in those classes could attend, although they were allowed to opt out of the presentations if they chose.

"Students asked a variety of questions, and I thought there was great discourse," Meyers said. "Both sides were respectful. There were some folks who disagreed, and that's exactly what we would expect."

That wasn't the case last night.

School Committee member David Samuels got the crowd going when he asked why Wheels of Justice members had gathered the e-mails and phone numbers of students in the social studies classes, which he said was illegal. His question prompted a round of shouting from audience members, and an apology of sorts from Samuels after the event.

"I meant to make it more civil," he said to a couple of teachers after watching the event come to a halt. "I screwed up."

Anderson said he confiscated the list and will send out letters asking for parents' permission to use the students' names.

But Anderson was taken aback by last night's crowd.

"I did not anticipate that level of emotion and hostility," he said. "All day was uneventful, no incidents at all inside the classrooms."

An anticipated protest or court injunction by parents and a walkout by students scheduled for the school day yesterday never happened.

But students were unhappy with the response from adults.

Senior Colin Hopkins said the parents acted foolishly in the weeks leading up to the presentation.

"They don't think we have our own thoughts," he said. "That we can't tell what's fact and what's propaganda. I'm 18. I'm able to vote, but they treat me like I can't make my own learning experiences."

Rustin Zarkar, 17, added: "We can have open discussion with someone, even if it's one-sided or biased."

Physics teacher Ron Francis, who helped organize the event, said he was happy students got to see the First Amendment in action.

"They got to hear a viewpoint not presented in the mainstream media," he said. "They've heard the other side."

Three police cruisers idled near the school's front entrance, and despite the heckling, officers never entered the library. Police had asked some residents standing outside before the event to put signs away.

Staff reporter Colin Steele contributed to this story.