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.

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.

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. 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.

https://twitter.com/SamBraslow/status/1345917213446873090

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.

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.

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.

At an anti-vaccine/anti-vaccine mandate rally at Beverly Hills City Hall organized in response to vaccine requirements for Beverly Hills firefighters, 80% of whom are currently vaccinated. For more context on the situation, check out this thread 🧵

https://twitter.com/sambraslow/status/1445102661917765653

Scoop: Over 25% of Beverly Hills Fire Department firefighters have submitted vaccine exemptions, 2 for medical and 23 for religious reasons. Because all BHFD firefighters are certified paramedics, they are subject to tomorrow's vaccine deadline for California healthcare workers. The city's HR director and a member of the city attorney’s office has started interviewing firefighters requesting exemptions.

I have reached out to the city and the union repping BHFD for comment and will update when received.

Breaking: The West Hollywood City Council passed the most comprehensive covid vaccine mandate in LA so far, requiring employees of bars, restaurants, gyms & other businesses to be fully vaccinated by Nov 1. This comes after the city issued proof of vax requirements for patrons. The proof of vaccine requirement for patrons of bars, restaurants, and other high risk settings goes into effect Oct. 11.

https://twitter.com/sambraslow/status/1436524661349650435

At City Hall for a rally in opposition to vaccine requirements. A few hundred people, but smaller turnout than hoped for. Many speakers planned for the day. Here’s the flyer for the event

Breaking: LA County Public Health will issue a health order this week requiring proof of vaccination or a neg test for outdoor events with 10K people or more. It also requires proof of vax for indoor bars, nightclubs, & lounges. It strongly recommends doing so for restaurants. Dr. Barbara Ferrer says that the health order will be issued by Friday and will go into effect on Oct. 7.

A suit by @AttorneyCrump & Brad Gage says a disbanded BHPD task force arrested 105 Black people out of 106 total arrests. In June, after the city had already received the initial claim, the City Council voted to prioritize the formation of a new task force.beverlyhillscourier.com/2021/09/02/bhp… The suit claims that the task force, known as the Rodeo Drive Team, targeted Black motorists and pedestrians in the city’s tony Business District.

According to Crump, the Department of Justice has reached out to him after seeing the allegations.

A group of active anti-vaccine protesters trespassed on the property of Los Angeles City Council Member Nury Martinez, appearing to film her home and the inside of her car. Many of these same individuals have protested at grocery stores, pharmacies, and schools across the city.

https://twitter.com/CD6Nury/status/1433219484592926728

Here are some of them protesting mask requirements at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica.

https://twitter.com/sambraslow/status/1389328059577212928

Breaking: In a press conference announcing a proposed class action lawsuit against @BeverlyHillsPD, @AttorneyCrump claims that 105 of 106 arrests made by a local task force were of Black people. The plaintiffs are a Black couple from PA who were arrested on Rodeo Drive in Sept. Jasmine Williams and Khalil White say that they rode electric scooters from their hotel in BH to Rodeo Drive. The city has a current ban on electric scooters. Officers made contact and arrested them.

One bystander argued with a protester over whether the Abby could refuse unvaccinated people. Currently, there are no laws in LA requiring establishments to check proof of vaccination. The Abby chose to institute the policy on its own.

Legal experts have repeatedly affirmed that businesses can require proof of vaccine in California. google.com/amp/s/www.wash…

At The Abby in West Hollywood, where a group of anti-vaccine protesters have gathered across the street in opposition to the bar’s policy of requiring proof of vax or a negative covid test.

One woman says that she fought for gay marriage, now will the gays fight for her. Three protesters cross the street and confront a photographer

Last week, Beverly Hills Freedom Rally founder Shiva Bagheri entered into a judicial diversion agreement with Beverly Hills for holding unpermitted rallies requiring 20 hours of community service.

Update, she got kicked out of community service for not properly wearing a mask. Background: The Freedom Rally began in July 2020 in response to COVID-19 public health guidelines like masks and school closures. As election season heated up, the Saturday rallies at Beverly Gardens Park became a gathering place for pro-Trump supporters (more than 4k at peak).

A group of anti-vaccine protesters have gathered outside of Harlowe’s in West Hollywood in opposition to their policy requiring proof of vaccination/a negative COVID test. They’ve been chanting “my body, my choice” and “change the policy.” This protest was in response to a move by the 1933 Group, a hospitality group representing 11 bars & restaurants in LA including Harlowe’s, which implemented the vaccine/COVID test policy at all its locations.

A group of anti-vaccine protesters went to Crossroads Kitchen on Melrose tonight to protest the restaurant’s requirement of proof of vaccination or negative COVID test to dine in. Jason Lefkowitz, organizer of the Dodger Stadium vax site protest in Jan., streamed the encounter. Lefkowitz, who is the one speaking most audibly in the clip, can be heard saying “seig heil” repeatedly. I don’t know if he was doing this ironically, as to suggest that the proof of vax requirement is as oppressive as Nazi Germany.

Today, a group of protesters staged a series of “maskless shopping” protests in stores across Westwood in defiance of LA’s new indoor masking order. Los Angeles has seen a large surge in COVID-19 cases in the last 2 weeks, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. The event was organized by an Arizona man named Ethan Schmidt, who posts videos of himself on his telegram channel harassing people wearing masks. He also promoted the WiSpa protest yesterday.

At Beverly Gardens Park in Beverly Hills, where people have gathered in solidarity with protesters in Cuba. A small group of right wing protesters have shown up for the Freedom Rally, which is scheduled to resume for weekly gatherings today. Here is the Freedom Rally group, many of whom were at the Wi Spa protest earlier today.