A Kern County activist is facing years in jail after authorities charged her with 18 felony counts for allegedly making terrorist threats against the Bakersfield City Council, the latest civic body to be roiled by unrest amid calls for a cease-fire in Gaza. Riddhi Patel, 28, who grew up in Bakersfield and works as the economic development coordinator for a local nonprofit, was arrested after public statements she made this week on the topic of a cease-fire and on metal detectors at City Hall.
Among her comments, Patel said the council members were such horrible human beings that Jesus probably would have killed you himself. Later, she expressed hope that oppressed people might bring the guillotine. She concluded her public statements by saying: Well see you at your house. Well murder you. In response, Mayor Karen Goh at first calmly called for the next speaker to come to the lectern, and then paused and said: Ms. Patel, that was a threat, what you said at the end. So the officers are going to escort you out and take care of that.
On Friday, Patel appeared in court and tearfully pleaded not guilty. Neither she nor her representatives could be reached for comment.
Video from the Bakersfield City Council chambers quickly went viral, zipping across X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok and picked up by Fox News and newspapers in India..
Patels comments came as activists have been lobbying the City Council about both a resolution calling for an Israeli cease-fire in Gaza and about increased security measures and rules around public speaking at council meetings.
In calling for a cease-fire, she said she expected that council members would not support it because they were horrible human beings and Jesus probably would have killed you himself.
She added that council members didnt care about oppression in Gaza because you dont care about oppression occurring here and then listed a number of problems in Kern County, including poor wages and waves of evictions.
She referenced an Indian holiday, Chaitra Navratri, and said that some in the global south believe in violent revolution against their oppressors. I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine and kills all you mother-.
After those comments, Mayor Goh said: Thank you. Then she called for the next speaker.
The United Liberation Front, the local group calling for a cease-fire, publicly condemned Patels comments later that night. It does not represent those of us in the community who continue to show up and exercise our civic duty.
Another case of f around and find out.... the video of her ranting is avaialbe in the link...
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Political correctness is the fascism of the 90s-Roger Ebert I don't have pet peeves, I have major psychotic ******* hatreds-George Carlin