Pro-Hamas Protester Who Threatened City Council Faces More Charges in Bakersfield

Last week, twenty-eight-year-old Riddhi Patel caused a national spectacle when during at a Bakersfield City Council meeting by threatening the council members while demanding a ceasefire resolution Israel-Hamas conflict.

After calling the council members of the Central Valley city, "horrible people" Patel moved to make violent statements:

'Jesus probably would have killed you himself.'
She added that in the 'global south,' some believed in 'violent revolution against their oppressors, and I hope one day someone brings the guillotine and kills all of you motherf**kers.'
'You guys want to criminalize us with metal detectors? We'll see you at your house. We'll murder you.'

Needless to say, none of that went over well with Mayor Karen Goh who deemed Patel's speech a threat and asked the police to escort Patel out, and she was arrested.

Patel was charged with 18 felony counts: 10 counts of making criminal threats, and eight counts of threatening a public official.

After grabbing attention in the media again for her tearful arraignment, a stark contrast from her previous public performance, she was released from custody on a $500,000 bail.

The District Attorney has filed a motion for three additional felony counts, seeking to add two counts of attempting to commit criminal threats and another count of making criminal threats.

Before this incident, pro-Palestinian protesters had disrupted several meetings. Other individuals are also facing charges, including a woman accused of breaking a glass door at city hall, resulting in an estimated $2,000 in damages, and another woman accused of spitting on an officer.

Patel's arrest is among other high-profile law enforcement actions taken against illegal acts of protest. This week, NYPD officers intervened to disperse a pro-Hamas "encampment" at Columbia University, where protesters openly voiced support for the terrorist group and honored "martyrs."

The protesters were illegally occupying the area, leading to clashes with police, multiple arrests, and suspensions, including Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Democrat Congresswoman from Michigan, Ilhan Omar.

Other anti-Israeli actors blocked San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge for hours, prompting police to make arrests of 26 individuals on Monday to clear the critical throughway in and out of the city. The protestors were released as District Attorney Brooke Jenkins referred the case back to the California Highway Patrol to investigate potential false imprisonment charges on behalf of the drivers who were stuck on the bridge for more than 4 hours.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Jenkins said,