POLICE, CRIME & ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR UPDATE 26 March 2021 - Bristol City Centre Protests BRIDEWELL DISORDER
could not have been foreseen and support had to be called in from other regional forces. That takes Last Sunday, the city suffered time to mobilise and during the serious disorder when what had early evening officers outside been a peaceful demonstration Bridewell came under sustained attack, with many sustaining descended into violence that saw police officers, vehicles and injuries. Officers were deployed to Bridewell police station come use public order policing tactics under attack. In this edition of to maintain control, using police horses and dogs. The policing the newsletter I would like to share information relating to the operation included officers from the local Neighbourhood Policing policing operation and what has followed since. The policing of this Teams who routinely cover the City Centre and Broadmead and protest was planned in advance, but the disorder that developed
some of them have provided accounts of their experiences that have been used to give an insight into their shift that day. Since Sunday, those working at Bridewell have been touched by the support shown by so many in the local business community. I would like to reflect all of this in these articles, so the role of the local police team and the response of the community we are part of is recognised. Superintendent Mark Runacres, Bristol Police Commander.
THE LOCAL POLICING TEAM Officers from the Bridewell Neighbourhood Policing teams were working in various roles during the disorder. Many started their shifts on normal Beat patrol duties in the city centre and came to assist as the protest developed. Others were in protest liaison roles, with contingency Police Support Units or working in the Council CCTV operations centre, linking with Silver Control at Police HQ. As there were no identified organisers for the protest, agreeing timings, a route or end point was impossible. Numbers attending also exceeded what had been expected and when the protest march stopped outside Bridewell police station things developed in an unexpected and unwanted way. Whilst the majority present had clearly attended the protest to express their opposition to the proposed legislation, there were a minority with other intentions
and their influence gained momentum as evening came. Officers from Bridewell were deployed to road closures at St James Barton Roundabout, but as the first call for assistance came over the radio, the two Bridewell police officers deployed there ran to assist. The police station was, by this stage under sustained attack and officers with shields fought to control the crowd. Over the following hours the officers outside Bridewell were pelted with stones, pieces of concrete and glass bottles, both from street level and the buildings above. On several occasions some within the crowd wrestled officers away from their colleagues and set about them, punching and kicking them to the ground. Numerous officers reported officers perceived be particularly vulnerable were targeted. This was a terrifying experience for those officers, experiencing vulnerability and
threat and on occasions hearing the desperate screams of a colleague in their radio earpiece as that officer was attacked. Officers inside the station prepared to defend it from anyone forcing their way in as the windows started to crack whilst having the presence of mind to film the offenders responsible on their body worn cameras. There are hundreds of hours of footage being carefully reviewed to identify and bring to justice those responsible. Away from the station, others worked to support colleagues policing the disorder, some transporting police dogs to an RV point and others even collecting water from local supermarket to help relieve the dehydration officers were suffering. For most of the Bridewell team their duty finally ended around 3am but it will be much longer until the vivid memories of that shift fade.
THE CLEAN-UP OPERATION
Tom, Del and Mike from the City Centre BIDs Cleansing Team were a key part of this and by 8am they were already making great progress in cleaning the graffiti from Bridewell police station. The scorched road in All Saints Street and Bridewell Street show where two police vehicles were burned out, and the repairs there will obviously take longer to achieve. Bridewell police station was back Before dawn on Monday, the city’s open for business as usual from cleaning teams sprang into action soon after 10am and this was to clean the streets and buildings important for teams that are based there, which include probation and of debris and graffiti. This was a coordinated response that was victim care teams. A detail that achievable through the established has not been widely reported in partnership working that already relation to Sunday’s disorder is that the ‘police van’ that was burnt out exists in the city.
THE COMMUNITY’S RESPONSE
At the height of the disorder our City Centre community was already responding to events at Bridewell. On learning of the disorder, food and water was offered from local supermarkets who were keen to help the officers under attack. That was the first indicator of the unity and community spirit that has since been so evident. From early on Monday morning visitors called in to Bridewell, with cards, flowers, letters, chocolates (well, a mountain of chocolate!) and offers to donate money to injured officers. Whilst financial donations were politely declined, other gifts quickly accumulated,
but it has been the time officers have taken to read the cards that has best reflected what this appreciative response has meant to them. One officer who was on the shields outside Bridewell on Sunday and suffered sustained attack from the missiles thrown commented “I’m OK, but it’s when people are so nice to me about it when they see me on patrol that gets me most emotional”. Policing always brings challenges but this has been a week like no other. The positive it has brought is strengthening the bond within the Bridewell police team and, we like to think that extends to the local community also.
in Bridewell Street wasn’t a ‘riot van’ but was actually a community contact vehicle that is deployed to support officers in engagement activity at schools and local events. The wider associated impacts of the damage caused extends far beyond the smashed windows and graffiti shown in media reports. The prompt action of all the city cleansing teams was really appreciated and their efforts were rewarded later in the week in the traditional way. If you work with the police and you do good things, getting doughnuts is pretty much an unwritten rule!