Beverly Hills Files Misdemeanor Charges Against Protesters

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — On Monday Beverly Hills filed misdemeanor curfew violation charges against 25 people involved in a June 26 protest.

This stands in contrast to decisions from Los Angeles County and the city of Los Angeles not to prosecute protesters arrested for defying curfew or dispersal orders.

“We are going to treat these prosecutions the same as we treat other prosecutions that are violations of the municipal code,” city spokesperson Keith Sterling told the Los Angeles Times. “The public safety benefits are the same benefits of any prosecutions.”

Beverly Hills enacted an indefinite curfew in early June that prohibits anyone in residential neighborhoods between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Sterling told the Timesthat neither Mayor Lester Friedman nor the City Council were involved in the decision to move forward with the prosecutions.

The city is responding to a June 26 protest, when about 100 protesters from the Black Future Project gathered near Beverly Gardens Park. Beverly Hills police allege that the protesters outfitted a van with speakers and amplification equipment that allowed music to be heard from 100 yards away. Police also alleged that a protester cut down an American flag and tried to burn it.

The city was widely criticized for arresting and holding 28 protesters for up to 18 hours. Other police departments have issued citations and quickly arrest protesters, especially during the pandemic when police want to avoid overcrowding in jails during a pandemic. One protester claimed on Twitter that he was held for 18 hours with no phone calls, and denied medication. A Beverly Hills police report acknowledges that one protester fainted.

After public pressure and calls from the National Lawyers Guild, the protesters were eventually released.

The city is facing similar criticism over its unusual decision to prosecute these protesters.

“In my knowledge, they are the only prosecuting agency in L.A. County which has gone forward with what are, essentially, identical violations to what the L.A. [County] D.A. declined to prosecute, what the L.A. city attorney declined to prosecute,” defense attorney Jerod Gunsberg told the Times. “There’s no different conduct here.”