75 Protesters Block Intersection In Beverly Hills

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Beverly Hills police arrested at least a dozen protesters a Thursday night protest for failure to disperse and alleged assault on a police officer.

The protest began at around 6:30 at Beverly Hills High School, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.

About 75 demonstrators marched east on Santa Monica Boulevard from Moreno Drive around 8 p.m. Police said that at around 8:15 protesters sat on the street on Santa Monica Boulevard at Linden Drive, blocking traffic in both directions.

The demonstration was organized by the Black Future Project, an organization demanding that “all schools in LA County receive equitable access to educational funding regardless of their” ZIP code, according to a statement posted on the group’s Instagram account.

The group was also protesting the City of Beverly Hills’s indefinite curfew that bans anyone from entering residential areas after 9 p.m. An Instagram post asked marchers to bring any past citations and destroy them at the march to protest the “unjust arrests.” The post also advised protesters to carry signs saying things like, "I'm protesting because 70% of students involved in 'in-school arrests' are black and Latino." Protesters were also advised not to throw anything at police, start fires, or bring lasers.

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Oops! We forgot a page in our protest guide~ If you've been arrested while protesting, bring your citation out with you tonight! We'll be collectively destroying our citations as an act of defiance against anti-protesting ordinances. They can call their rules whatever they want: curfews, gathering ordinances, they're all attempts at suppressing our freedom of speech and our right to assemble! Protesting is not a crime! #blacklivesmatter #blackfutureproject #laprotest #blmprotest #protest #knowyourrights
A post shared by Black Future Project (@blackfutureproject) on Jul 23, 2020 at 1:59pm PDT

Similar clashes occurred on June 12, when several protesters attempted to enter a residential neighborhood with bullhorns and amplified music. Police fired tear gas and a sonic boom at protesters, and the city enacted an indefinite curfew soon after.

On June 27, approximately 100 protesters sat at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and North Rexford Drive. Police declared that a violation of the curfew, and made 28 arrests. Beverly Hills police were criticized for holding many of the protesters up to 18 hours.

Beverly Hills spokesperson Keith Sterling said that officers gave the crowd multiple disperse orders, and the crowd did not comply. Some demonstrators could be seen sitting or laying on the street and refusing to get up, according to KTLA.

The protest dispersed after 9 p.m., according to Beverly Hills police. It is unknown how many arrests were made.

— City News Service contributed to this report.