Hundreds protested against California’s coronavirus curfew on Saturday beginning in Beverly Hills in LA county and finishing off strong as “curfew violators” in Orange County’s Huntington Beach.
Trump supporters have been flocking to Beverly Garden Park every weekend for the last few months. On Saturday, around two hundred held another event. There were people of all ages and races in attendance from minors to senior citizens. These devotees had all their Trump accessories, signs, attire and assortment of flags. There were additional backers who would drive by. These motorists would demonstrate their approval by cheering, chanting, honking horns, displaying signs and waving flags to the demonstrators at the park.
“I have been attending the Beverly Hills Freedom Rally almost every weekend for the last five months. The rally is an important avenue for me and my campaign to find volunteers, especially because they are all within the 37th Congressional District, which stretches just south of Beverly Hills down to Inglewood,” said Errol Webber, a congressional nominee for the California 37th District. “I am here to mobilize volunteers to get people excited because these are the motivated people that dedicate four hours of their lives every Saturday to come out here and volunteer. This proactive stance of getting out, going door-to-door, sharing campaign material and doing phone banking is where we are going to have the greatest impact.”
The Beverly Hills Police Department at 6:24 p.m. declared the Beverly Hills Freedom Rally an unlawful assembly once they began to march down the street. BHPD gave activists two minutes to dispense. Most of the Trump supporters left and drove to Huntington Beach to keep protesting Governor Newsom’s curfew.
The meeting point for Trump supporters was at 10:00 p.m. in the Downtown, Huntington Beach area. There were more than 400 curfew violators defying the governor’s COVID-19 curfew order on purple tier counties from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
These regions had a dramatic spike in their coronavirus cases. The emergency stay-at-home order was placed to curve the spread of the pandemic for one month. The demonstrators protested in Pier Plaza and on the other side of the highway in the downtown area. There were over a dozen attendees from the Beverly Hills Freedom Rally in Huntington Beach.
The participants would cross Pacific Coast Highway and Main St. holding signs, waving a variety of flags, speaking into megaphones, dancing, chanting and yelling. Passing vehicles would show the same enthusiasm by honking horns, waving flags, chanting and yelling back. The Huntington Beach Police Department stood idle and did not enforce the curfew. The majority of the participators did not have any face masks on.
“I am here to protest the curfew. We defy our governor because he cannot tell us what we can or cannot do. We are not kids. He is not our daddy. We do not need somebody to keep us safe. We spent all year allowing this man to strip away our constitutional rights in the name of keeping us safe. We do not need that. This is not what this country was founded on,” said Rachel French, a Fullerton College alumni and recipient of an Associates of Arts degree in liberal studies.
“I am here to protest the curfew. It is not right. Galvin Newsom feels like he can control people. You can’t control individuals and tell them what to do with their own time. It is my right to stay out. It is my constitutional right as an American to be free,” said Maddie Chavez, a current Fullerton College student majoring in child development.
As the late evening progressed the attendees slowly dispersed. By 12:30 a.m. most of the people left, including the police. There were a few curfew violators hanging out and talking into the early morning hours.
