Samuel Braslow Profile picture
Jan 4, 2021 21 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Today, a group of anti-maskers protested at Ralph’s and the Century City shopping mall. Lots of angry confrontations with customers and a few physical altercations.

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A violent altercation broke out between a protester and a customer. Didn’t see see the inciting incident. She claims that the customer hit her; in response, she tries to ram him with a shopping cart and shout at him.
As the shopper was checking out, the anti-masker kicked him.

“Some guy take care of him out there, come on patriots.”
A lot of shouting matches like this, where a shopper tells two protesters to leave and they say that this isn’t Communist China.
One protester suggests he doesn’t need to wear a mask bc he tested negative. He calls a shopper a “mask Nazi.”
The anti maskers went next Bloomingdales at Century City Mall. LAPD showed up eventually but did not try to remove them. @Bloomingdales staff seemed unable to force them to leave.
The group of about 20 circulated around the 3 floors, chanting “no more masks,” and “fuck communist China.”
@Bloomingdales staff escort a shopper out after he gets into an argument with multiple protesters
The anti maskers have a little dance party on the floor of @Bloomingdales, dancing to the MAGA version of YMCA.
Things get heated between a Steve Madden employee and a protester who tries to push through their door, claiming the employee pushed him first.
An anti-masker enters an 85 Degrees cafe/bakery and says to tell the company that masks are illegal. The customers and employees appeared nonplussed.
The anti-maskers mistake a woman taking a sip of her coffee as a supporter. She quickly puts her mask back on.
A worker in the foot court asks why the anti-maskers are protesting on private property. The anti-masker tells him that he has a right to be there because he is an American.
Some the anti-maskers were not served by foot court employees. One of them confronts malls security and says that they can be arrested for not serving them. “We don’t live in China, we don’t live Iran.”
Police intervene in an incident where a shopper allegedly pushed an anti-maskers camera.
The protester reviews footage of the incident with police. It seems to show the shoppers putting their hands over or into her phone. Officers told me that no charges were pressed.
An anti-masker pantomimes dying of COVID to an Ugg’s employee who was saying something to the group.
A woman who said she’s a doctor yells at the anti-maskers that her mother is in the hospital with COVID. A protester responds, “People die. Your father’s not special.”
Just a note, the fake hedge was put in place as a makeshift barricade. LAPD opted to observe and intervene only when necessary rather than try and expel the anti-maskers.
A mall official asks some anti-maskers to leave. A protester asks, “In the 40s, would you ask a group of Black people to leave if they were harassed? Trump supporters are oppressed in America today.”
At some point today, police apparently detained Shiva Bagheri after an altercation with a shopper. According to @peterdelachinga, who witnessed her detention and filmed it, he saw Bagheri walking free after this.

Will follow up with LAPD for details.

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More from @SamBraslow

Jun 25, 2022
Happening now: large crowd in support of abortion rights at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles.
Illustrating just how many protests are happening today: Just as one group leaves Pershing Square for City hall, hundreds more march by Pershing Square.
Hundreds of protesters are marching onto the 110 freeway
Read 26 tweets
Dec 18, 2021
The other week, the @nypost ran a story about concern over crime in Beverly Hills. It quotes a resident saying her neighbor’s house was “firebombed with Molotov cocktails” during the 2020 BLM protests. Neither BHPD nor BHFD could find any evidence of this happening.
BHPD Lt. Giovanni Trejo told me "I tried every buzz word I can think of. It is possible it’s in the system, but it was entered under a different title."

BHFD Deputy Chief Joe Matsch said the most recent record for a Molotov cocktail he could find was Nov. 5, 2019.
It took both agencies time to go through their systems and run down possibilities before they could respond to me. In that time, the article circulated across the web and within a community already shaken by legitimate tragedy.
Read 9 tweets
Dec 4, 2021
Twitter locked me out of my account for nearly 2 days because of false claims of violating its new policy on posting private media. Both reported tweets are from an anti-mask protest & have clear news value. I have reached out to Twitter for comment. ImageImage
The first reported Tweet shows a protester calling a shopper at Ralph’s a “mask Nazi.” This took place at a “maskless shopping” protest in January that subsequently received major media attention after @emilyytayylor and my reporting.
The second tweet shows the same protester, a rightwing activist and videographer, refusing to leave the Westfield Century City Mall, telling a mall official that “no other group is oppressed like Trump supporters.” He compares Trump supporters to Black people in the 40s.
Read 8 tweets
Oct 22, 2021
New in @BHCourier: I got the arrest data for BHPD's Rodeo Drive Team, a task force charged with policing the Business District after an uptick in calls. The subject of a proposed class action by @AttorneyCrump, RDT made 90 arrests, 80 of whom were Black. beverlyhillscourier.com/2021/10/24/bhp…
This number is lower than the widely-cited 106 arrests with 105 arrests of Black individuals claimed in the lawsuit.

However, the data shows that BHPD made 107 arrests for unemployment insurance fraud, 99 of which were of Black people.
This figure includes arrests by the RDT, but also adds in arrests by officers not on the task force.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 6, 2021
A group of anti-vaccine/anti-vaccine mandate activists protested at Walk to School Day in Beverly Hills today. Protesters followed Mayor Bob Wunderlich from the civic center to Hawthorne Elementary School, engaging in heated exchanges with parents.
In the morning around 8:15, the group confronted Mayor Robert Wunderlich. He proposed that three members of the group meet him in the afternoon to allow him to walk to school with parents and kids.
A number of Beverly Hills Police Department officers provided security throughout the event.
Read 13 tweets
Oct 6, 2021
UCLA anesthesiologist Dr. Chris Rake, a COVID-19 vaccine mandate opponent, was escorted out of the UCLA medical plaza yesterday and placed on unpaid administrative leave for refusing to get vaccinated or request an exemption.

“I’m willing to go lose everything…even my life.”
UCLA Health said in a statement that it was acting in accordance with the state public health order and UC policy.
Dr. Rake has not responded to a request for comment or to additional questions.
Read 8 tweets

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