Bristol was plunged into anarchy on Sunday night, as far-left rioters set fires, vandalised buildings and attacked police officers, as a protest against Home Secretary Priti Patel’s policing bill turned violent.
A so-called #KillTheBill protest on Sunday in Bristol saw at least two police officers hospitalised as the leftist protest turned into a riot, with one officer suffering from a broken arm and another from broken ribs.
Local news outlet Bristol Live reported that around 5,000 protesters initially gathered in College Green at around 2 p.m., but by 6 p.m. several thousand radical agitators began to surround the Bridwell Police Station.
Riot police squared off with the leftist mob, which began hurling makeshift missiles at officers. The leftists burnt police vans, smashed the windows of the station, and scrawled graffiti on the building including the phrase “Fuck the Police”.
The chairman of the Avon and Somerset Police Federation, Andy Roebuck said: “This is the worst violence in Bristol for many, many years.
“It’s really unprecedented violence. Between four and six or possibly more officers are seriously injured and some have broken bones,” he said, although it is now known that at least 20 officers were injured and 12 police vans destroyed.
“No-one had any indication it would erupt this way,” Roebuck added.
Far-left rioters take over the police station in Bristol, England. pic.twitter.com/p1zzZJ4lIO
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) March 21, 2021
The left-wing Labour Party Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees said that while he understood “the frustrations” about the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which was the pretext for Sunday’s riots, “smashing buildings in our city centre, vandalising vehicles, attacking our police will do nothing to lessen the likelihood of the bill going through”.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, who is leading the charge to introduce stricter limits on protesters in the United Kingdom, claimed that “thuggery and disorder by a minority will never be tolerated” — although it was in fact tolerated in Bristol last year during a BLM protest which saw a historic statue ripped down while police did nothing.
In response to the chaotic scenes, Brexit champion Nigel Farage wrote: “In Bristol tonight we see what the soft-headed approach to the anti-police BLM leads to. Wake up everyone, this is not about racial justice. These people want all-out anarchy and street violence.”
“The BLM protests were anti-police, it is a key goal of the organisation. The worrying events in Bristol tonight are an extension of that. We have given into and encouraged the extreme left, and this is the result,” Farage added.
In Bristol tonight we see what the soft-headed approach to the anti-police BLM leads to.
Wake up everyone, this is not about racial justice.
These people want all-out anarchy and street violence. pic.twitter.com/pBXFL5Iy1Z
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) March 21, 2021
As in the US, rioters in #Bristol, England set dumpsters on fire and used them to block the roads to prevent law enforcement from responding. pic.twitter.com/5YTfIt46Hl
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) March 22, 2021
The actions taken by the rioters was seemingly excused, however, by the far-left grassroots political organisation Momentum, whose Bristol chapter wrote: “The attack on the police station this evening likely wouldn’t have happened if the police hadn’t acted aggressively, including bringing in dogs.”
“Let’s not forget that the police protect a culture of violence against women and other marginalised groups — which has been one trigger behind the outrage the last few weeks,” the Labour-linked group alleged.
The South West English port city has as of late become a hotbed for left-wing activism, with Black Lives Matter radicals tearing down the statue of British philanthropist Sir Edward Colston and dumping it in the local harbour in June, as mentioned previously.
Superintendent Andy Bennet, who was in charge of the police response during the Colston riot, later received a medal in the New Year Honours.
Bennet had excused the inaction of officers by expressing concerns that if the police were to uphold the law it would further inflame the Black Lives Matter radicals.
“[T]he right thing to do was just to allow it to happen, because what we did not want is tension,” he wheedled.
London mayoral candidate David Kurten remarked: “The criminal violence of the Antifa mob in Bristol yesterday is deplorable, but they should have been dealt with last year when Bristol Police stood back and let far-left Marxists and anarchists run riot.”
Bristol Should Be Proud over Destruction of Colston Statue, Says Police Chief https://t.co/FPiXfVmZG9
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 11, 2020
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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