Protesters Gather Outside Home Of Beverly Hills Mayor

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — In what has become an uneasy Saturday ritual, Trump supporters and counter-protesters once again clashed in Beverly Hills.

Around 3 p.m., about 100 Trump supporters gathered at Beverly Gardens Park, where they were met by a smaller group of counter-protesters, Beverly Hills police Lt. Max Subin told the Los Angeles Times. Both sides hurled jeers and insults at the other.

Beverly Hills looks like fun today pic.twitter.com/an945Br0Ob
— Josh Lekach (@JoshLekach) August 30, 2020

Police shut down the park and closed Santa Monica Boulevard to traffic at around 3:30 p.m., after a suspicious item was discovered, according to Subin. The items was later determined not dangerous.

Protesters moved a few blocks to the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, in the heart of the Business Triangle. Subin said that after a counter-protester threw an object at officers just before 4:30 p.m., police declared the protest an unlawful assembly and ordered the crowds to disperse. One person was arresting for allegedly using threatening language or behavior that interfered with police efforts to break up the crowd, which Subin said is a felony.

Some protesters then traveled to the nearby home of Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman, which is located on a residential street in between Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards. Police said that the protest remained peaceful. This stands in contrast to recent visits protesters have made to the private homes of city and police leaders.

On Thursday night, a crowd of protesters traveled to the Porter Ranch home of LAPD Chief Michel Moore, where they attached posters to his home by duct tape, shouted angry slogans, and wrote on his walkway in chalk.

On July 2, a group of 80 protesters gathered at the Granada Hills home of Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, where they chanted slogans like, “Your neighbor’s going to be fired, “ and “Your neighbor is a murderer,” according to a report in L.A. Magazine. Lacey’s husband David allegedly pointed a gun at the protesters, and is facing misdemeanor gun charges as a result.

Beverly Hills has caused controversy by choosing to prosecute protesters arrested for violating a city curfew at a June protest. The Los Angeles district attorney and the L.A. city attorney have said that they will not prosecute protesters arrested on misdemeanor charges.