Riddhi Patel fancies herself some kind of social revolutionary, apparently.

She works for an environmental justice group as a “economic development coordinator” and says in her staff biography (after noting that she used to work for the Sunrise Movement), that:

In her spare time, she enjoys holding elected officials accountable, watching endless amounts of movies, television series and sports, and enjoying time outdoors with her family and friends.

So, this “hobby” that Riddhi Patel likes to indulge in led her to the Bakersfield City Council on Wednesday, April 10, where she pushed her “ceasefire resolution” in Gaza on behalf of another group, United Liberation Front, and also complained about metal detectors being installed at the city council. In the first part of her comments, she hopes everyone on the city council is beheaded by guillotine.

Hi there. My name is Riddhi Patel. I’m here to speak in support of the city council, introducing a ceasefire resolution, specifically the one, um, United Liberation Front has drafted. I  don’t have faith that you’ll do this. You guys are all horrible human beings and Jesus probably would have killed you himself.

And the thing is though, it’s very clear to me as in someone who’s been an organizer for the past couple of years, that none of you care because you, you guys don’t care about anything happening in Palestine or any other country where oppression occurs because you don’t care about the oppression occurring here.

And I understand that you guys are all horrible people. But the thing is 2, 300 people being evicted in the last year, those are votes. And you guys, those are votes to win here in Bakersfield. And while you, you guys parade Gandhi around, as a Hindu holiday called Chaitra Navratri, it starts off this week, I remind you that these holidays that we practice, that other people in the Global South practice, believe in violent revolution against their oppressors.

And I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine and kills all of you motherf**kers. The increased criminalization for no need other than you don’t like When people come and hold you guys accountable for introducing ceasefire resolutions Because the only escalation in violence has been by you all and so there’s no need to continue in the last five years I’ve attended city council meetings.

But then she apparently addressed the city council again, and here Riddhi Patel steps WAY over the line.

Patel later addressed the council a second time, expressing outrage over the presence of metal detectors at the meeting.

“In the last five years I’ve attended city council meetings there’s never been metal detectors, there’s never been more cops,” Patel said. “The only reason you’re doing it is because people actually don’t care if you guys don’t like them and they’re actually resisting so you’re trying to criminalize them.”

We’ll see you at your house,” they added. “We’ll murder you.”

Mayor Karen Goh then rebuked Patel, saying “that was a threat, what you said at the end, so officers are going to escort you out and take care of that.”

WILD: Unhinged Pro-Palestine protestor Riddhi Patel threatens to M*RDER Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh (R) in a psychotic rant during a city council meeting.

Patel is being charged with 16 felonies and is being held on a $1 million bail. pic.twitter.com/09PeBCWoNz

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 12, 2024

Riddhi Patel, in the course of her rant, went from “hoping” that the city council would all be beheaded, to actually threatening to come to their homes and “murder” them. And at that point, the mayor was done. Patel has now been charged with 18 felony counts.

Riddhi Patel appeared in court on Friday, for a felony arraignment. She is facing 18 charges, 10 of them threatening with intensive terrorizing, eight of which threatened a public official. Patel did plead not guilty, her bail was set at $1 million. She is due back in court on April 24 at 9 am for one hearing and then her next hearing is set for April 25 at 8:30 am.

And surprise, surprise – neither her work group – the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment – or the United Liberation Front want anything to do with Riddhi Patel right now.

We reached out to the organization for comment on the matter, and a media representative said, “We will not be making any comments.”

The United Liberation Front, a pro-Palestinian group that has been advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza said in a statement following the incident at Wednesday Night’s city council meeting that they “condemn any statements that threaten public officials” and they advised attendees at the council meeting to not disrupt the proceedings and that after comments, they would leave the meeting room.

Welcome to the “find out,” Riddhi Patel. It isn’t so much fun on this side of things, is it?

Honestly, I can’t blame her for crying. How was she supposed to know that threatening to murder people was a bad thing? After all, she’s probably participated in dozens of protests and shouted slogans that threatened violence before, and nothing like this has ever happened to her. This was just on a smaller scale, right? The politicians have enabled the protestors right up to this point, where a single person can casually toss out “We’ll see you at your house. We’ll murder you” and not think anything of it. The tears say that Riddhi Patel has never been held accountable for anything until now, and she really didn’t think she would be now, either.

Good for Mayor Karen Goh for bringing down the hammer on Patel. It remains to be seen if she will actually face all of these charges, or if she will be allowed to walk away with just a slap on the wrist. Felony threats are kind of a big deal, though, and the videotape is pretty clear.

Riddhi Patel is going to need a new hobby. And we would ALL be better off if protestors in general were rebuked by the law for making threats. The mayor and the Bakersfield City Council may have a spine, but too many politicians do not.

Featured image: screenshot of Riddhi Patel from KGET News video, cropped