'Patriots Push Forward' Rally Draws A Crowd In Beverly Hills

LOS ANGELES, CA — Just days after a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters engaged in a violent insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, demonstrations for and against Trump were held Saturday afternoon in Beverly Hills and in downtown Los Angeles.

As the nation draws closer to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration Jan. 20, Trump's supporters are still fighting to keep him in office amid calls for his immediate removal following Wednesday's Capitol seizure, which resulted in five deaths.

Around 3 p.m., supporters of the president converged for a "Freedom Rally" and "Patriots Push Forward" demonstration at Beverly Gardens Park and in front of Wallis Annenberg Center on Santa Monica Boulevard. Demonstrators planned to honor Ashli Babbitt, a U.S. Air Force veteran from San Diego who was fatally shot by Capitol Police in Washington D.C. as she fought alongside those attempting to breach the Capitol.

Babbit, a strong supporter of Trump, was attempting to break through doors to a room where armed officers stood on the other side. She was shot in the chest by Capitol Police and taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

SEE ALSO: Trump Mob Breaches Capitol; Biden Decries Riot; 1 Killed; Curfew

An advertisement for the rally posted on Twitter by demonstration participant Shiva Bagheri illustrated that the rally was to "remember those who risked their lives for this country."

"...She confronted the people that she should be confronting because they have traded us out to hostile countries," Bagheri tweeted Saturday morning in a reply to those criticizing the demonstration on Twitter. "She went to the source of the problem rather than writing and looting innocent businesses."

Beverly Hills Trump Supporters https://t.co/4Jr2yQRLnZ
— President Elect Dr. Coach K Jr (@JrCoachK) January 10, 2021

Demonstrators gathered despite Trump's announcement Thursday night that the violence at the Capitol was a "heinous attack." Trump said that he was "outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem."

"We're aware of the protest, so we'll have sufficient amount of officers (out there)," Officer Rosario Cervantes of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section told City News Service on Saturday morning.

Trump's supporters began gathering at Beverly Gardens Park every weekend during the fall presidential campaign to express their support for the president. Demonstrations carried on in the form of "Stop The Steal" rallies even after the election, as Trump continued to make baseless claims that he'd won the election.

The group said they're meeting Saturday to "celebrate life, to unite our community in upholding American values and to encourage and empower citizens to participate in respectful discourse and effective social engagement."

Who’s coming? pic.twitter.com/KCilx4hWEk
— Shiva Bagheri (@shivasdancefit) January 9, 2021

A car caravan was also planned Saturday by Refuse Fascism at noon in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, part of a nationwide series of demonstrations. The group will denounce Wednesday's violence and call for the removal of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Shortly before 3 p.m., a caravan of dozens of cars was shown on a video the group posted on Twitter heading west on Sunset Boulevard toward Beverly Hills.

The group made clear its ground rules in a Facebook post: "We will NOT be countering the Fascists in Beverly Hills. No mixing households in cars & Mask up! In order to be safe, MUST HAVE CAR TO JOIN." The group was denouncing Wednesday's violence and called for the removal of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

READ MORE: CA Protesters Take To Streets Amid Election Chaos: Live Updates

Other demonstratons in Los Angeles took place during Wednesday's insurrection in Washington, D.C. which resulted in some arrests and violence between Trump supporters and anti-protestors.

Protests were reported in various parts of California, drawing crowds in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Huntington Beach.

On Friday, Twitter announced that Trump's account was permanently suspended "due to the risk of further incitement for violence" after his tweets were flagged in connection to inciting Wednesday's siege of the Capitol.

The suspension came just a day after Trump was barred from using Facebook for the remainder of his term.

Also Friday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that the House would move to impeach Trump next week over his role in inciting the violent mob attack if he did not resign "immediately."

"The morning he was elected, I came to work and was asked by staff for some words of context and history, and I said, 'Well, I think it's going to get worse than you think.' And I've been proved quite right," said Manuel Pastor, director of the USC Equity Research Institute and a professor of sociology at USC. "There is nothing about what took place Wednesday that was not predictable."

Trump released a statement Friday that was quickly removed from his Twitter page but later disseminated to the White House press pool, in which he blasted the platform, saying it "is not about free speech. They are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely," he said.

"As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me," he said. "Twitter may be a private company, but without the government's gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long.

"I predicted this would happen. We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED!"

The City News Service and Patch editor Kat Schuster contributed to this report.