Photos: Vans Burn and Cops Suffer Broken Bones in Anti-Police Power Riots

Police and protesters clashed in Bristol, southwest England, on Sunday night, following a demonstration against proposed new police powers. Twenty police officers were assaulted or injured, with two officers taken to hospital after suffering broken bones. One of them also suffered a punctured lung.

Two police vehicles – including an unattended riot van – were set alight and a police station was daubed with graffiti. Riot police hit protesters with batons and protesters threw missiles including fireworks at the police. Protesters kicked in the windows of Bridewell police station as onlookers cheered.

The “Kill the Bill” demonstration was a protest against the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which passed its second reading in the House of Commons last week. The bill would give police powers to ban protests than have an “impact” and would make it an offence to cause “serious annoyance”, with a potential ten-year jail sentence. There have been a number of protests across the UK against the legislation.

Bristol is the city where a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was toppled and dumped in the harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest in June last year, in scenes which Home Secretary Priti Patel described as “utterly disgraceful”. The bill increases the maximum penalty for damaging a memorial from three months to ten years, and has been criticised for making “protecting statues more important than punishing rape.”

Following a peaceful demonstration, clashes broke out between police and protesters on Sunday night.

The BBC reported that riot police stood by and “didn't engage with the protesters at all” until “the atmosphere took a marked turn when the first police vehicle was set on fire. Huge plumes of black smoke rose up from Bridewell Street.” However Alon Aviram, editor of local newspaper the Bristol Cable tweeted, “Scenes tonight escalated when riot police, horses and dogs came out. Definitely didn’t do anything for ‘crowd control’.”

“Unacceptable scenes in Bristol tonight,” Patel wrote on Twitter. “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.” 

Avon and Somerset Chief Constable Andy Marsh said: “Let’s be clear, the wanton violence and destruction had nothing to do with protest – it was committed by those looking for an excuse to commit disorder. The scenes we witnessed yesterday were shameful and I know will be condemned by the whole city.

The police will now launch an investigation to try to arrest those involved in the disorder. Chief Constable Marsh said: “A tactical decision was made to deal with these criminals retrospectively and not make a significant number of arrests last night, which would have impacted significantly on our resources at the scene and created a greater risk of damage to property and injuries to the reduced number of officers left to deal with the disorder.”