Black Lives Matter protesters in Beverly Hills: "Eat the rich!"

Remember just a couple of weeks ago when the Black Lives Matter activists and their supporters came to Beverly Hills, California and the protest march turned into looting all the swanky stores on Rodeo Drive? Then some protesters came into the residential areas and held a late-night protest among the homes of the rich and famous. The residents very quickly reacted as most people would do – they demanded action from their local lawmakers to protect them and their property.

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Funny how that happens, right? The wealthy liberals who carefully maintain their woke public images suddenly revert to a Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) mentality when the mobs come for their neighborhoods. The city of Beverly Hills issued an emergency order two nights later that bans public gatherings of more than 10 people in residential areas between 9 PM and 8 AM.

So, how’s that emergency order going? Not so great, apparently. It turns out that Black Lives Matter activists don’t abide by emergency orders. Who knew? Anyone with a brain knew that’s who. Who would sincerely expect highly motivated activists to respect the wishes of a residential neighborhood when their marches are often infiltrated by Marxists and anarchists hell-bent on destroying the American way of life, capitalism in specific? The emergency order is a legal action. The protesters aren’t interested in the legality of their actions.

The protesters headed back to Beverly Hills on Friday night. Did they abide by the curfew? Of course not. They did as they did in the previous protest – they blasted loud music and blocked the streets.

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Reports are that the protesting marchers tore down American flags from private property and chanted stale slogans like “Eat the rich” that is often cited as originating in the days of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, or in contemporary times to songs by that name from Aerosmith in the 90s and Motörhead before that, in the 80s. Today’s Marxists are reaching back to past days instead of moving ahead with a new vision. There is nothing new with the far left’s hatred of capitalism.

The protesters did their thing long past midnight. Finally, after 3:00 a.m., the Beverly Hills Police Department tweeted that the protest had ended, arrests were made, and the crowd had left the City of Beverly Hills. The leader of the protest was arrested after 11:00 p.m., though the emergency order calls for the curfew to begin at 9:00 p.m. Why did the police wait to arrest him?

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Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and other protest groups are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order and injunction to forbid the Los Angeles Police Department from using baton strikes and rubber bullets to control crowds during future protests. They say that batons and rubber bullets violate demonstrators’ constitutional rights.

“The LAPD has used so-called rubber bullets and batons indiscriminately to disrupt and disperse protesters with many serious injuries resulting,” attorney Paul Hoffman wrote on behalf of BLM-L.A. and more than a dozen protesters injured by police officers. “The images of baton-wielding LAPD officers and protesters’ injuries unacceptably increase the cost of public participation in these important exercises of First Amendment rights.”

The injunction effort comes as part of a class-action lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Los Angeles chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Black Lives Matter and Los Angeles Community Action Network, which accuses the LAPD of repeatedly misapplying the law to clear the streets. The lawsuit says demonstrators’ constitutional rights were violated and many were left bloodied and bruised.

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Somehow I don’t think that people watching at home across the country during these protests have a lot of sympathy for the protesters who may be injured during police responses to the crowds. What about the innocent bystanders who are trying to protect their shops and property during the marches that turn into riots and looters go wild? Molotov cocktails and rocks and skateboards used as battering rams on glass doors and windows produce injuries, too. Marxists are violent and should expect to be treated as such.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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David Strom 11:20 AM | November 21, 2024
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