Colin
A protester arrested inside Bakersfield City Council chambers Wednesday night is accused of 16 felony counts after she made a threatening comment to council members and the mayor.
Riddhi Patel, 28, was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of eight counts of threatening with intent to terrorize and another eight counts of threatening certain city officials during her comments on enhanced security at the meetings.
These upgrades, used on a trial basis at the previous City Council meeting on March 28, would permanently include metal detectors and bolstered security at future City Hall meetings. They were unanimously approved by the council later in Wednesday’s meeting.
Patel’s remarks on the matter came during the public comment portion of the meeting, during which she lambasted the proposed security upgrades.
“You guys want to criminalize us with metal detectors,” Patel said. “We’ll see you at your house, we’ll murder you.”
Following a brief pause between public speakers, Bakersfield City Attorney Ginny Gennaro directed an officer to apprehend Patel before signaling to city Mayor Karen Goh.
“Ms. Patel, that was a threat, what you said at the end,” Goh said. “And so, the officers are going to escort you out and take care of that.”
Patel was arrested without incident shortly after she returned to her seat row.
It was the second time that Patel spoke at Wednesday’s meeting. She previously highlighted that some people celebrate Chaitra Navratri, which starts this week.
“I remind you that these holidays that we practice, that other people in the global south practice, believe in violent revolution against their oppressors, and I hope one day somebody brings a guillotine and kills all of you (expletive).”
Bakersfield Police Sgt. Eric Celedon said Patel faces 16 felony counts — eight counts of threatening with intent to terrorize, and eight counts of threatening the seven City Council members and the mayor.
Patel is being held at Lerdo jail in lieu of $2 million bail. According to inmate records, Patel is expected in court Friday afternoon for an arraignment. She had not been charged by the Kern County District Attorney’s Office as of Thursday afternoon.
Other protesters also present to criticize the security measures, as well as the city’s continued abstention from voting on a cease-fire resolution regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, quickly distanced themselves from Patel.
In an Instagram post, the group, titled United Liberation Front, said the threats ran “counter to our values.”
“It does not represent those of us in the community who continue to show up and exercise our civic duty by engaging directly with our elected representatives,” the group wrote.
City officials insist the extra security was not prompted by the protesters, which by Wednesday had entered their eighth week attending the meetings. This is the tail end of a five-year process to implement enhanced security, officials said, and standard for similarly populated cities across California.
Unlike past meetings, the group presented no intention of disrupting the meeting Wednesday, and quietly exited the chambers at the end of public comments.
Civic disruptions continue to take place in cities across the country, including Bakersfield, as an outpouring of criticism has landed on city and county steps over the Israel-Hamas war.
“We continue to demand the introduction of a cease-fire resolution as nearly 100 other cities throughout the U.S. have done,” the ULF wrote in its post.
City Council members have not announced any intention of voting on such a resolution.
