Avon and Somerset’s chief constable and one of the government’s most senior policing advisers both said the scenes of violence in Bristol, in which 21 officers were injured, could be repeated in the city and elsewhere in the country in the coming weeks.
Eight people have been arrested so far after the “kill the bill” demonstration in Bristol, which saw protesters stoning a police station and setting fire to police vehicles, but Andy Marsh, the head of the Avon force, said the force was hunting scores more.
Marsh took part in a conference call with the home secretary, Priti Patel, and the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, to discuss the implications of the disturbance.
“We’re all worried,” he said. “We’ve talked about reflections on what happened in Bristol and what we need to do to reassure communities and keep our communities safe in Bristol and across the country. Over the next few weeks it’s a very difficult time in policing.”
On Monday evening, Avon and Somerset police said more than 100 officers were involved in the inquiry and that further arrests were imminent.
Det Ch Supt Carolyn Belafonte said the investigation would be comprehensive and could result in the release of the largest number of images for wanted suspects in the force’s history.
She said: “Once we’ve carried out an initial view of the evidence we’ve collated, we’ll be in a position to release images to the public to help us identify suspects. From what we’ve already obtained, we’re confident more arrests are imminent.”
The Avon and Somerset Police Federation chairman, Andy Roebuck, said: “We ended up with this gathering outside the police station which turned incredibly violent. We had an officer dragged from his colleagues and repeatedly stamped and kicked while he was on the floor.
‘We had premeditated attacks where they sprayed officers’ visors with liquid so they could not see. There were orchestrated flashpoints. This has been orchestrated and cleverly planned.
“Speaking to officers last night, they said they felt they were going to be killed, such was the level of violence. You look into their eyes and hear how their voices were cracking – they were in fear for their lives.”
Prof Clifford Stott, who chairs the SPI-B policing and security subgroup of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), urged the government to change coronavirus rules to allow protests to take place to avoid a repeat of the violence in Bristol.
Without a change, many protests and other public gatherings could “cascade into disorder”, he told the BBC Radio 4 programme World at One. Addressing ministers, he said: “You have got to change the Covid legislation to allow for protests that will place the police in a far clearer legal framework and alleviate some of the tensions that are currently driving these escalations.”
Marsh called the scenes “thuggery” and said “hundreds or thousands” of criminal acts took place in Bristol on Sunday night and Monday morning.
Marsh said one of the officers injured had suffered a collapsed or punctured lung after being stamped on, and another had broken bones [See Footnote]. Up to 3,000 people had taken part in demonstrations against the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, which plans to give police increased powers to shut down peaceful protests. He said they included a group of up to 500 people “who really were intent on violence, damage and criminality”.
After 6pm on Sunday evening, they began throwing stones at New Bridewell neighbourhood police station in central Bristol. Marsh said 12 police vehicles had been damaged and the station’s toughened glass windows had been broken. On Monday lunchtime, workers were still clearing up the area.
Marsh defended the policing of the demonstration. He said the group that had been sitting down creating a scene outside the Bridewell police station had been, by the assessment of his team, looking for a trigger to provoke a violent response.
Politicians of all sides condemned the violence. Boris Johnson said: “I think that kind of thing is unacceptable and the people obviously have a right to protest in this country. But they should protest peacefully and legally.”
Patel said “thuggery and disorder” would not be tolerated. The shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, described the scenes as awful and shocking, tweeting: “There is no excuse whatsoever for this violence. Thinking of those officers who have been injured, and their families, and wishing them a swift recovery.”
The Bristol mayor, Marvin Rees, condemned the thuggery but said he had “major concerns” about the government’s bill and that the disorder would be used to justify the legislation. “It’s selfish, it is self-indulgent and self-centred activity – people living out their revolutionary fantasies,” he said.
But there was also some support for the protesters. Rachel Legg, a 51-year-old carer who witnessed but did not take part in the violence at the police station, said: “I’m not surprised. They all seemed to be in their 20s. That is an angry generation.
“They are facing a planet that is dying, a home secretary that wants to hang people, the rent in Bristol is horrendous and they have no job prospects. It’s not about a bunch of thugs taking part in a protest, there’s a bigger picture people need to understand.
“Nobody is looking after this generation.”