Beverly Hills bans more than 10 people gathering at night after protesters ‘disrupt the tranquility’ and looters target luxury stores

New rules apply to residential neighbourhoods, but not business district

The city of Beverly Hills has banned nighttime gatherings of more than 10 people in residential streets or public areas after two large protests that “disrupted the tranquillity”.

City Manager George Chave issued the proclamation on Saturday after a second protest by the group Occupy in a residential neighbourhood that began on Friday night and lasted into early on Saturday.

It included “bullhorns and amplified music” during hours in which people would ordinarily be asleep.

Before the incident on Friday, on 30 May there was “widespread violence and property damage by people taking advantage of the protests concerning the tragic death of George Floyd,” the proclamation says.

Stores on Rodeo Drive were vandalised and some were looted during unrest that day. Those looting stores appeared to be separate from the Black Lives Matter protesters who organised the gathering, CBS LA reported.

The new rules apply between 9pm and 8am to any “assembly” defined as any “meeting, demonstration, picket line, rally, gathering, or group of ten or more persons, or vehicles, or a combination thereof, having common purpose, design, or goal”.

Silent assembly is exempt from the order, such as a candlelight vigil.

Gatherings on private property are also exempt, and as the proclamation applies only to residential areas, it does not include the city’s business district.

The incident on Friday night saw the Beverly Hills Police Department use tear gas and sponge-tipped projectiles on protesters when they left Santa Monica Boulevard and turned onto a residential street.

Multiple protesters were injured when police moved to disperse them, despite complying with the order, Los Angeles Magazine vividly reports.

The police department said in a statement that protesters trespassed on private property, threw objects and pointed a laser at officers.

“The Occupy protestors continued to aggress the officers and began to assault officers by pointing lasers in their faces and eyes, a crime in California,” said a spokesperson for the department. “BHPD directed sponge projectiles towards protestors using lasers and those throwing objects at officers.”

No arrests were made.