BEVERLY HILLS—The city of Beverly Hills enacted an emergency ordinance on Tuesday, October 12, that prohibits any demonstrations from taking place within close vicinity of its schools.
The new ordinance prohibits protesters from participating in a demonstrations within 300 feet of a middle school and 100 feet of a high school. Protestors are also prohibited from confronting students who are on their way to school within 10 blocks of the school they are attending.
This ordinance was placed on the city’s agenda after a group of anti-vaccine and anti-masks protestors were found to have been, “harassing young children,” at Hawthorne Elementary School during their “Walk to School Day.”
Some protestors confronted parents for making their children were masks referring to it as “child abuse,” and have reportedly equated vaccinations to sexual assault. One protestor told a mother walking her child that she is traumatizing her child by forcing the child to wear a mask. Some were telling the parents that they should sue the school district for making the students wear masks.
Keith Sterling, City Communications Officer for Beverly Hills stated that people were disturbed by the protestors decision to disrupt children. He also stated that the city will be reviewing Wednesday’s video footage to see if any of the protestors violated any municipal code. No citations were administered during the demonstrations.
The Beverly Hills Fire Association expressed that they are “extremely disappointed” in the way that the protestors behaved. There are some reports that some of the children were scared and confused by what was transpiring around them.
Earlier this year, a similar demonstration occurred right outside of Hawthorne Elementary. where the protestors tried to hand out flyers and engage with children.
Shiva Bagheri, who in the past has punched a breast cancer patient during a rally, was the reported leader of the demonstration that occurred on Wednesday.
