One person faces possible charges Sunday after being arrested during a rally in support of President Donald Trump in downtown Beverly Hills, authorities said.
The counter-protester, who opposed the roughly 100 Make America Great Again demonstrators, was arrested for resisting or threatening a police officer, according to Lt. R. Evans of the Beverly Hill Police Department.
The protest, which began at 3 p.m. Saturday near Beverly Gardens Park, was temporarily moved while police investigated a suspicious package.
At 3:29 p.m., Beverly Hills police urged people to avoid Santa Monica Boulevard between Rodeo and Crescent drives during the investigation, Evans said.
The bomb squad determined the area was safe at about 4:30 p.m. and it was reopened to traffic and protesters, he said. The exact nature of the package was not disclosed.
Last Saturday, Aug. 22, one person was also arrested at a MAGA rally.
This week, 50 pro-Trump protesters left a larger gathering of people demonstrating for various reasons and marched to the home of Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman on Sierra Drive, Evans said.
That group eventually returned to the park to continue demonstrating.
The protesters included a man dressed in a silver jumpsuit and a sinister mask gave his name only as Captain Corona, saying he was afraid his family could be targeted. The man said he believes masks are a tool of control by Democratic strategists.
Nick Cunningham, 28, came down from Riverside County to stand with the Trump supporters.
“From a Black perspective, our president’s done more for the Black community than our last, Black, president,” he said, pointing to Black unemployment numbers and plans for economic opportunity zones — shortly before being interrupted by a passing car with someone who shouted ‘F*** Trump!’ at him multiple times. “These things were the things that I wished Barack Obama did when I voted for him when I was 18 years old fresh out of high school.”
He’s also a fan of the Trump administration’s restoration of funding for historically black colleges and universities, he said.
“Black Conservatives is kind of the new punk rock,” he said. “We’re demonized constantly, especially during this Black Lives Matter movement. But overall, that’s why I’m here: to support the Black community, because, by far, that’s the only way that our communities are going to succeed is another term with Trump in office.”
A verbal confrontation occurred early at the outset of the protest, Evans said.
Cunningham said a Black Lives Matter supporter wasn’t too thrilled about his fellow protesters attempting to draw a comparison between the shooting of Jacob Blake and the hundreds of murders in Chicago each year, which they believe could be lessened under continued Trump economic policies.
“There was a lot of yelling,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate because we’re in the mix of all these Black Lives Matter riots — and peaceful protesters — which again, I don’t need a movement to tell me that my life matters.”
But overall Cunningham said the event was positive, although he’d like to see more constructive dialogue with opponents somehow.
“I prefer us having rallies and talking to people on the left,” he said. “There’s a lot of views that I would change if someone changed my mind about it. And vice versa, I’d hope other people would change their minds if I educated them about some facts.”
Ed Roman, 25, of the Simi Valley, held a flag of the Republic of Artsakh, the predominantly Armenian-populated disputed territory claimed by Azerbaijan.
He said he believes Trump could solidify a relationship between the United States and the breakaway state.
“I want all people who believe in capitalism, people who believe in owning any size business — small business, big business, doesn’t matter — if you believe in family values, in America as a country, everyone has to come together,” he said. “So whatever your issue is, if you love America, we have to come together.”
Despite some arguments, he said he feels their side was at least partially successful in getting their message across.
“There were a couple of agitators,” he said, adding one person did seem to learn something from their exchange. “We talked to him and he turned out to be Libertarian — and the left is completely intolerant towards Libertarians. So we basically turned his ideology around, so he has to support conservatism. But he still said ‘F*** Trump’ at the end.”