Bristol riot: Protest carnage leaves 20 officers injured and 12 police vehicles damaged
VIOLENCE broke out in Bristol during a protest against the Government's new Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill which imposes new restrictions on the right to protest.
Bristol: Police van seen on fire during 'Kill the Bill' protest
Demonstrators attacked police with fireworks, bottles and other missiles with a number reported to be "seriously injured". One police van was set on fire after having its windows broken whilst others were damaged. Overnight, seven people have been arrested while 20 officers were injured in the clash.
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Avon and Somerset Police issued a statement this morning and confirmed the arrests and said police will "carry out high-profile patrols".
Chief Constable Andy Marsh said 20 police officers were injured during the protests last night.
One officer suffered a collapsed lung after being stamped on.
Another suffered broken bones as 12 vehicles were damaged.
Chief Constable Marsh has said "most seriously 12 of my brave officers have been injured, two of them seriously, doing their best to protect property and the people of Bristol from what was violent criminality and thuggery".
He said the numbers at the demonstration "very quickly" rose to possibly as many as 3,000 people and a group of 400 or 500 "who really were intent on violence, damage and criminality started to commit crimes, damage police vehicles" at about 6pm outside Bridewell police station in central Bristol.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said:"We know they have burnt out three marked vehicles, nine vehicles that are used for safeguarding the most vulnerable have also been damaged and the windows of the station have been put in."
He added how he expects "very serious consequences for those involved."
What is the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Court Bill?
The Government claims the bill will allow the police to take a "more proactive approach" to intervening in "highly disruptive" protests deemed to be a public disturbance.
Priti Patel will be handed new powers to create laws that would define "serious disruption", which would then allow police to intervene in protests.
Police will be given more power to deal with "static protests" such as "sit-ins", impose start and finish times on protests, as well as "maximum noise limits".
Windows at Bridewell Police Station were smashed and graffitied by rioters.
Police in riot gear attempted to contain the crowd with the support of mounted officers and dogs.
Earlier thousands marched peacefully through Bristol ignoring coronavirus restrictions.
Demonstrators chanted ‘kill the bill’ whilst a small group waved anarchist flags.
The violence broke out outside New Bridewell police station after the main protest.
Demonstrators sprayed paint on a police van and rocked it from side-to-side before officers moved in.
Andy Roebuc, chair of the Avon and Somerset Police Federation, told the BBC: "This is the worst violence in Bristol for many, many years.
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"It's really unprecedented violence. Between four and six or possibly more officers are seriously injured and some have broken bones.
"No one had any indication it would erupt this way."
The demonstration was held against the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament.
Under its terms police can block demonstrations if they risk “serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community”.
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It also introduces a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment for causing criminal damage to a monument.
On Twitter Avon and Somerset Police tweeted: "Officers are continuing to deal with a smaller number of protestors in Bridewell St.
"They've had projectiles thrown at them, including a firework, & have been verbally abused.
"This is unacceptable behaviour & those responsible for offences will be identified & brought to justice."
Home Secretary Priti Patel condemned the protests and described them as "thuggery".
She tweeted: "Unacceptable scenes in Bristol tonight.
"Thuggery and disorder by a minority will never be tolerated.
"Our police officers put themselves in harms way to protect us all.
"My thoughts this evening are with those police officers injured."
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees told Good Morning Britain today: "This goes absolutely against everything we have built over the last few years and what we stand for."
He described the protesters as "self-indulgent, selfish, self-centred".
Mr Rees said: "What they have done has nothing to do with the bill, in fact, as everyone has been pointing out, it will be used as evidence for people who want to support the bill.
"They have no strategy, no connection to any real politics, it's just them taking the opportunity to express their emotions and whatever distorted source they have."
He added: "If they make the bill more likely, it doesn't bring me closer to justice, it pushes justice further away.
"For myself, for my brothers and sisters, people from traditionally poor communities, they have done nothing to support us.
"They have done nothing in line with what we have done over the last few years, to feed our children, to house people who don't have homes, to take care of people coming out of the justice system and re-entry into our community."
Health minister Helen Whately told Sky News this morning: "What we've seen in Bristol, those protests were completely unacceptable, just disgraceful behaviour in fact.
"It was one of these occasions where, if I understand it right, there was a peaceful protest and then a small minority from that protest then turned it very ugly and we saw those scenes of completely unacceptable violence.
"Not only the damage and the vandalism of police property but, worse still, injuring police officers, so we're seeing officers with serious injuries and going to hospital.
"That clearly should not happen, it is unacceptable and inexcusable."
Guardian columnist and Labour supporter, Owen Jones, said the protests were "inevitability" going to happen.
He tweeted: "If the government attempts to criminalise peaceful protest, and police are set on women at a vigil, the scenes tonight in Bristol become an inevitability.
"'No justice, no peace' isn't best understood as a threat, but as a statement of the glaringly obvious.
"In a sane world, this tweet would be filed under 'statements of the blindingly obvious'.
"You can’t spend a decade kicking a whole generation in the teeth and then try to suppress peaceful protest like a tinpot dictatorship - then not take some responsibility for causing turmoil."
Sue Mountstevens, police and crime commissioner for Avon and Somerset, said seven people had been arrested so far and there would be "many more" detained.
"It's disgraceful and outrageous. Police officers went to work yesterday and some have returned home via hospital battered and bruised," she said.
"There will be warrants, there will be arrests and police will be checking on the CCTV. There will be further arrests in the next few hours and days.
"I believe there have been seven arrests so far and there will be many more."
Additional reporting by James Bickerton
