https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-13/activist-faces-18-
felonies-for-threats-to-city-council-during-meeting

A Kern County activist is facing years in jail after authorities charged
her with 18 felony counts for allegedly making terrorist threats against
the Bakersfield City Council, the latest civic body to be roiled by unrest
amid calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Riddhi Patel, 28, who grew up in Bakersfield and works as the economic
development coordinator for a local nonprofit, was arrested after public
statements she made this week on the topic of a cease-fire and on metal
detectors at City Hall.

Among her comments, Patel said the council members were such �horrible
human beings� that �Jesus probably would have killed you himself.� Later,
she expressed hope that oppressed people might �bring the guillotine.� She
concluded her public statements by saying: �We�ll see you at your house.
We�ll murder you.�

In response, Mayor Karen Goh at first calmly called for the next speaker
to come to the lectern, and then paused and said: �Ms. Patel, that was a
threat, what you said at the end. So the officers are going to escort you
out and take care of that.�

On Friday, Patel appeared in court and tearfully pleaded not guilty.
Neither she nor her representatives could be reached for comment.

Video from the Bakersfield City Council chambers quickly went viral,
zipping across X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok and picked up by Fox News
and newspapers in India.

The mayor declined to comment, telling a local television station that
�since the incident is under investigation, it�s not appropriate for me to
offer comments.�

Vice Mayor Andrae Gonzales, however, told KGET that the exchange was
�deeply concerning� and �completely inappropriate.� �The city can�t
function during a public council meeting if we�re being continuously
disrupted,� he said.

Patel�s comments came as activists have been lobbying the City Council
about both a resolution calling for an Israeli cease-fire in Gaza and
about increased security measures and rules around public speaking at
council meetings.

Israel launched its offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for an
Oct. 7 cross-border attack that officials say killed about 1,200 people.
The war has dragged on for nearly six months and killed more than 32,000
Palestinians, the majority of them women and children.

Patel, wearing a colorful dress and speaking calmly, addressed both issues
during the meeting�s public comment period.

In calling for a cease-fire, she said she expected that council members
would not support it because they were �horrible human beings and Jesus
probably would have killed you himself.�

She added that council members didn�t care about oppression in Gaza
because �you don�t care about oppression occurring here� and then listed a
number of problems in Kern County, including poor wages and waves of
evictions.

She referenced an Indian holiday, Chaitra Navratri, and said that some in
�the global south� believe in �violent revolution against their
oppressors. I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine and kills all
you mother�-.�

After those comments, Mayor Goh said: �Thank you.� Then she called for the
next speaker.

The United Liberation Front, the local group calling for a cease-fire,
publicly condemned Patel�s comments later that night. �It does not
represent those of us in the community who continue to show up and
exercise our civic duty.�

Fifteen minutes later, Patel again rose from her seat in the audience to
address the council on a second issue involving metal detectors and
increased security at City Hall, which she and others believe could stifle
public participation. The issue has been a hot-button one in Bakersfield
for years; in 2021 groups including the ACLU of Southern California
protested the council�s �rules of public decorum� that were instituted
during Black Lives Matter protests to place some limits on public
speakers. The groups called the rules �overbroad� and said they could
violate the 1st Amendment.

Patel, whose public bio says she has a degree in neuroscience and enjoys
�holding elected officials accountable� as well as movies, sports and time
outdoors with her family and friends, accused the council of trying to
criminalize members of the public who protest their policies.

�You guys wanna criminalize � with metal detectors,� she said. �We�ll see
you at your house. We�ll murder you.�

No one on the council appeared to react, and Patel returned to her seat
before police removed her.

The Kern County district attorney could not be reached for comment but in
a statement to Bakersfield.Com said that charges against Patel include 10
counts of threatening with the intent to terrorize a public official: five
City Council members, the mayor, the city clerk, the assistant city clerk,
the city attorney and the city manager.

She also faces eight counts of threatening specific public officials. That
includes all but two of those at the meeting. The D.A. told
Bakersfield.Com that Councilmembers Bob Smith and Eric Arias �are not
considered victims because they did not feel threatened.�

--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.