The “Kill the Bill” protest was denounced by government and local lawmakers after protesters clashed with the police, attacking a police station and leaving some officers with broken bones on Sunday night.
“Theft and disorder by a minority will never be tolerated,” tweeted UK Interior Secretary Priti Patel, calling the scenes “unacceptable”.
The event began as a demonstration against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s policing bill, which critics say would give police and ministers powers that could seriously restrict citizens’ ability to protest peacefully.
But tensions rose with the protest on Sunday, leading to violent scenes that were condemned by officials and lawmakers across the political spectrum.
“The officers were subjected to considerable levels of abuse and violence. One had a broken arm and the other a broken rib. Both were taken to the hospital,” Avon and Somerset Police said on Sunday night. “They should never be subjected to aggression or abuse in this way. At least two police vehicles were set on fire and damage was caused outside the police station ”.
Andy Roebuck, president of the Avon and Somerset Police Federation, called the protesters “a crowd of animals”, while the national president of the England and Wales Police Federation, John Apter, questioned his motives. “It is not about protecting the right to protest, it is violent crime by an extreme minority that will hijack any situation for its own purposes,” he said.
And local opposition MP Darren Jones of the opposition Labor Party said: “You don’t campaign for the right to peaceful protest by setting fire to police vans or graffiti on buildings.”
Metropolitan Police Officer Wayne Couzens was charged with the kidnapping and murder of Sarah Everard earlier this month, in a case that was intensely followed and led to a renewed national discussion about intimidation, harassment and violence against women.
But the police also became a target of anger when they moved to a peaceful vigil in Everard, south London, on March 13 and seemed to force women to fall, an approach that led to a review and scrutiny of pending legislation that it would increase its powers to dismantle mass protests and meetings in the future.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said he had “major concerns about the bill, which is poorly drafted and may impose disproportionate controls on freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest.”
But he condemned violent protesters in his city for making the bill more likely to pass. “Destroying buildings in the city center, vandalizing vehicles, attacking our police, will do nothing to lessen the likelihood of the bill being passed. Instead, the illegality on display will be used as evidence and will promote the need for the bill.”
The bill was debated in Parliament last week. It suggests, in somewhat vague language, that demonstrations and protests should not “intentionally” or “recklessly” cause “public annoyance” and, elsewhere, claims that damage to monuments can result in punishment of up to 10 years in prison – clause seen in response to Black Lives Matter protesters, who overthrew or condemned slave traders’ statues in Bristol and elsewhere last year.