The “Kill the Bill” protest was denounced by government and local lawmakers after protesters collided with police, attacked a police station and left several officers with broken bones on Sunday night.
“Minority crime and disorder will never be tolerated,” tweeted UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, calling the scenes “unacceptable”.
The event had started as a demonstration against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s flagship law, which critics say would give police and ministers powers that could seriously curb citizens’ ability to protest peacefully.
But tensions escalated during Sunday’s protest, leading to scenes of violence condemned by officers and lawmakers across the political spectrum.
“Officers have been exposed to significant levels of assault and violence. One suffered a broken arm and the other fractured ribs. Both were taken to hospital,” Avon and Somerset police said Sunday evening. “They should never be attacked or abused in this way. At least two police vehicles have been set on fire and damage has been done to the outside of the station.”
Andy Roebuck, chairman of the Avon and Somerset Police Federation, called the protesters “a crowd 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 is violent crime from a hardcore minority who will hijack any situation for their own purposes,” he said.
And local MP Darren Jones, of the opposition Labor party, said: “You are not campaigning for the right to peaceful protest by burning 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 has been closely followed and sparked renewed national discussion of harassment, bullying and violence against women.
But police also became the subject of anger when they marched to Everard in South London for a peaceful vigil on March 13, appearing to force women to the ground, an approach that has led to a review and scrutiny of the pending legislation. would increase their powers to dismantle protests and mass rallies in the future.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said he himself was “deeply concerned about the bill, which is ill-conceived and may impose disproportionate controls on freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest”.
But he condemned violent protesters in his town for making it more likely that the bill would pass. “Destroying buildings in our city center, destroying vehicles, attacking our police, will do nothing to reduce the chance that the bill will pass. On the contrary, the lawlessness shown will be used as evidence and the necessity of it. promote bill. “
The bill was discussed in parliament last week. It suggests, in somewhat vague terms, that demonstrations and protests should not ‘intentionally’ or ‘recklessly’ cause ‘public nuisance’, and elsewhere it says that damage to monuments could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison – a clause seen as response to Black Lives Matter protesters, who destroyed or condemned statues of slave traders in Bristol and elsewhere last year.