Stokes Croft Riots - eye-witness reports from 21st April 2011

“I arrived at Cheltenham Road at about 11.30pm. There was a peaceful crowd of around 200 and a line of riot police blocking off Ashley Road. By St Paul's Community Centre the riot police were running towards the crowds and driving them away from St Pauls. At one point on City Road some people tried to block the riot vans from herding the crowds by placing metal fences across the road. People held these fences in place and the police responded by driving their riot vans straight into the fences and consequently the people holding them. For several hours the police attempted to kettle the crowds on Cheltenham Road. On several occasions I saw the police knock people who posed no threat onto the ground with their riot shields. At approximately 2am around 10 riot vans sped up Cheltenham Road away from the crowds. The road was empty of police and this is when the Tesco store was attacked. Why did they leave Tesco’s unguarded? Was it to enable them to try and point to the riot as being against Tesco’s, when in fact it was in response to ferocity of the police assault? There seemed to be no threat of petrol bombs as I did not see a single fire engine all night”.

"When I first arrived there was only a small confrontation of between 50-100 people on Ashley rd/Bridgestock rd who having been charged by riot police, responded by throwing bottles and constructing barricades with bins. A complete overreaction by the police involving repeated charges, dogs, shutting down the whole of stokes croft, coupled with intimidation and assaults on innocent bystanders managed to turn this incident into a full scale riot. The fact that half the people there weren’t even sure how the riot started shows how they badly they handled the situation."

"I was a witness to the scenes on the streets of Stokes Croft. The actions and tactics of the police in entering Stokes Croft on a Thursday evening before the long bank holiday weekend incited and encouraged violence and chaos. I saw police riot vans driving down pavements towards people. The police used dogs, which in a confused and chaotic environment was dangerous. I also saw the police acting violently towards people who clearly had no involvement in the disorder and who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. "

BRISTOL SOCIALIST PARTY MEETING

Tuesday 10 May, 7.30pm at Cheltenham Road Library, BS6 5QX

“What the Socialist Party Stands For”

Stokes Croft Riot – For an open community enquiry

The Socialist Party believes that nothing short of a full-scale community enquiry made up of elected representatives from local trade unions and community organisations can begin to get to the bottom of the reasons for the outbreak of rioting around Stokes Croft that occurred on Thursday 21 April.

The events have been portrayed as an anti -Tesco protest, but even the Bristol Evening Post was forced to write that attacks on that shop began at 2.30am, over 5 hours after a police team entered Telepathic Heights allegedly to search the premises for petrol bombs.

It is stated that people in the community had become concerned after seeing people bringing ‘petrol bombs’ into Telepathic Heights, yet only one person has been charged with “possessing a petrol bomb and threatening property”, leading many to question whether he’s a victim of a police set-up after the event, to try and justify their massive over-response.

A number of urgent questions need to be answered by a community enquiry:

- Who supplied this information about petrol bombs and is it credible to ask us to believe that people were openly coming and going with them? It’s like a bank robber walking into a bank holding a bag with swag written on it.       

            

- Who took the decision to provocatively launch this action in the knowledge that it would take place at a time when hundreds of local people would be out and about enjoying the warm weather, relaxing with a drink or two and looking forward to the long weekend? 

- Why wasn’t the operation executed early in the morning in accordance with usual practice?

- Why did the police go charging in like robocops with reinforcements on hand from Wiltshire, Gwent and South Wales forces, if their target was so specific?

- Was there another agenda here as far as Avon and Somerset Police were concerned, involving dishing out a lesson to the ‘alternative’ Stokes Croft community, prior to the Royal Wedding and feared acts of civil disobedience on the day? In the last six months we’ve seen anti-cuts protests viciously attacked for no reason and hundreds of young students kettled and intimidated. Many are now asking, is the local police force out of control?

31 years after police aggression led to the St. Pauls riot, Britain is again becoming polarised between the super rich and the rest. Jobs and services are being slashed, EMA has been stolen from FE students and unemployment of 16-24 year olds now stands at a dizzying 20%. This is a recipe for anger and inevitably tensions in society are on the rise.

The Socialist Party does not condone damage against Tesco Express or other local businesses and opposes any attempt from whatever source to put the health of shop employees at risk. Rioting and acts of individual violence may be latent in this charged atmosphere, but offer no long-term solution to ordinary people alienated and oppressed by capitalism. The real way forward must be to build mass protest and resistance, involving trade unions and communities linking up together to defeat the cuts and the Cameron-Clegg Coalition which is trying to make us pay for the bankers’ crisis.

BRISTOL SOCIALIST PARTY MEETING

Tuesday 10 May, 7.30pm at Cheltenham Road Library, BS6 5QX

“What the Socialist Party Stands For”

Bristol 'Tesco riot' reveals local anger

Report by a Stokes Croft resident, from The Socialist - http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/668/11929/27-04-2011/bristol-tesco-riot-reveals-anger

On Thursday night, 21 April, disturbances took place in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol when police clashed with anti-Tesco protesters and the local squatting community.

A local campaign to prevent the opening of another Tesco store in the area has been running for a couple of years, organising demonstrations and direct action. Following the opening of the store protesters have been calling for a boycott of the supermarket, which it is argued will have a negative impact on the area.

Peaceful protests developed into a riot when 160 police with shields and batons descended on the area, allegedly following reports that local squatters intended to petrol bomb the store. The police response was heavy-handed and confrontational.

Stokes Croft is known as a hub of artistic endeavours, with a strong sense of independence and difference from the increasingly homogenised high streets in much of the UK. Some have suggested that the police actions smacked of trying to clean up the area ready for gentrification.

Events continued through the evening as people left bars and clubs and saw what was going on.

There was a sense that the violence came about, not only as a result of Tesco opening, but also of people's continuing frustration with the Con-Dem government, bankers' bonuses and the billions of spending cuts.

When ordinary people are not listened to, anger grows and can boil over into violence. We need more than ever a strong political voice that can take on the neoliberal agenda of the government and their friends in big businesses like Tesco.