Arrests have been made at the third protest in Bristol in a week after more than a thousand people descended on a city police station.
Hundreds of people gathered on College Green on Friday to rally against the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, with the direct action growing in size before the crowd began standing or sitting in the street near Bridewell police station.
The station had been the scene of Sunday’s violent protest, which saw officers attacked, police vehicles set on fire and the windows of a police station smashed. So far nine people have been arrested, with officers pledging that more will follow.
Protesters on Friday night had initially sat down in the street at 10pm once officers had called for them to disperse, with the police then moving in on the crowd.
Footage from the scene showed protesters, some sitting, others with their arms in the air, chanting “we are peaceful what are you” as officers used riot shields to push them back – in one instance using the edge of the defensive item to hit one person who was on the ground.
