Officials have condemned violent scenes at a protest in Bristol, England that left police officers injured and vehicles ablaze, as tensions escalate between law enforcement and activists over a controversial crime bill that could curtail people’s ability to demonstrate.
The “Kill the Bill” protest was denounced by the government and local lawmakers after protesters clashed with police, attacking a police station and leaving some officers with broken bones on Sunday evening.
“Thuggery and disorder by a minority will never be tolerated,” the UK’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, tweeted. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the scenes “unacceptable” on Monday.
The event had begun as a demonstration against Johnson’s flagship policing bill, which critics say would hand the police and ministers powers that could seriously curb the ability of citizens to protest peacefully.
But tensions escalated as the protest wore on Sunday, leading to violent scenes that have been condemned by officers and lawmakers across the political spectrum.
Abuse
“Officers have been subjected to considerable levels of abuse and violence. One suffered a broken arm and another suffered broken ribs. Both have been taken to hospital,” Avon and Somerset Police said Sunday night. “They should never be subjected to assaults or abuse in this way. At least two police vehicles have been set on fire and damage has been caused to the outside of the station.”
“I think that all that kind of thing is unacceptable and I think that the people obviously have a right to protest in this country but they should protest peacefully and legally,” Boris Johnson told reporters Monday during a visit to a factory in Lancashire.
Andy Roebuck, chairman of the Avon and Somerset Police Federation, called the protesters “a mob of animals,” while the national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, John Apter, questioned their motives. “This is not about protecting the right to protest, it’s violent criminality from a hardcore minority who will hijack any situation for their own aims,” he said.
And local Member of Parliament Darren Jones, from the opposition Labour party, said: “You don’t campaign for the right to peaceful protest by setting police vans on fire or graffitiing buildings.”
