Clik here to view.
More than 160 police raid squat occupied by opponents of new Tesco Metro in Stokes Croft area
Eight police officers and several protesters have been injured after a riot erupted in Bristol, sparked by a raid on a squat occupied by opponents of a newly opened Tesco Express store.
More than 160 officers in riot gear, reinforcements from neighbouring forces and officers on horseback were involved in the operation, which began shortly after 9pm. Four people have been arrested, Avon and Somerset police said, because they posed "a real threat to the local community" in the Stokes Croft area of the city.
Reports had been received that petrol bombs were being assembled in the squat for, it was alleged, an attack on the Tesco store. The force confirmed that "petrol bombs" had been recovered from the house and are being examined.
"There have been several significant incidents in this building during the past few days, which have caused serious concerns to police and local residents," Superintendent Ian Wylie explained.
"The safety of the public is paramount in a situation of this kind and we took the decision to carry out a robust and swift operation, following intelligence received about the criminal intentions of those who were occupying the building."
Officers secured the area on a warm night as locals were heading off to bars and clubs at the start of the Easter holiday. A rumour went round that police were evicting the squatters. Clashes began when lines of officers closed off Cheltenham Road, a main route into the city centre, and protesters began throwing bottles at them.
The disturbances continued through the evening and up to 4am on Friday. At one stage an abandoned Wiltshire police car had its windows smashed in and doors ripped off, a scene captured on a YouTube video (http://youtu.be/bEbdMUoyQ4U).
The origins of the confrontation lie in objections to the opening of a new Tesco store on Cheltenham Road; the shop was severely damaged in the riot. The area is close to the St Paul's area, where the first Thatcher era, inner-city riots erupted in 1980.
Assistant Chief Constable Rod Hansen said: "When 300 people congregated and a small minority from that group started small fires and throwing bottles, stones and other items at officers, we used well-rehearsed plans which involved the use of officers from neighbouring forces to control what had become a volatile situation." None of the injuries are believed to be serious.
Duncan Birmingham, an arts lecturer who lives nearby, told the Guardian he had seen lines of police in riot gear. "There were people going to nightclubs, dressed up in party gear mingling with police horses and police vans from Wales," he said. "One crowd had put rubbish bins across the road and were throwing bottles.
"Tesco has been trashed. The windows have been put in and there's paint everywhere. There's been massive opposition to Tesco opening. The store had been hidden behind hoardings until it opened last week. There's another Tesco about half a mile away in each direction."
Kerry McCarthy, the Labour MP for Bristol East, was on the scene in the later part of the evening. The disturbances were just outside her constituency. "It's a very hippyish, counter-culture type of area with lots of arts shops," she said.
"One group was laying their bicycles down on the street and most of it seemed fairly good-natured but the police response was heavy-handed.
"There were two people playing saxophones on top of a bus shelter and a photographer was taking pictures. A police officer walked across and pushed him over; there was no reason to do it. My colleague Ben Mosley [a Labour council candidate] was hit by a truncheon and I was shoved out of the way by a policeman at one stage.
"I had a conversation with the Chief Constable. It seems the police had received reports that petrol bombs were being carried in and out [of the squat].
"It was anti-establishment protest: against capitalism and corporations, similar to what we saw in the March against the Cuts in London where Starbucks and banks were targeted."
Clare Milne, who lives nearby and has been organising the planning campaign against the store, said she had not been told why there was a police raid on the squatted building. She said she witnessed from her bedroom window an unprovoked attack on a man walking along the street with a woman. "An officer whacked him around the lower back with a baton."
Another witness, Nick Jones, a primary school teacher, said that groups from other parts of Bristol joined in. "It turned into a running battle up and down the street for two hours. Between 2.30am and 4.30am there were bottles thrown and rocks. I saw a police officer get hit in the face and go down - he was taken away in an ambulance.
"People had weapons. They had saws and shields themselves. It turned from interesting to scary very quickly."
Lewis Clapham, 22, a customer services worker, said: "I wasn't involved in the protest or the squat. I just happened to be down there and I went up to the police and said I was just passing through, but one of them came and hit me really hard with a baton. I've got bruising all down my side now with massive swelling on my elbow."
A heavy police presence remained in the area during the day. Asked about allegations of officers hitting those not involved in the violence, a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: "The whole operation will be reviewed by the force. Each complaint made to the police is throughly investigated."
Box on Tesco Background:
The genesis of the riot in Stokes Croft lies in a bitterly fought, two year long dispute over the opening of a Tesco Express mini-store on the site of a former comedy club. Campaigners opposed to the further expansion of Britain's biggest supermarket chain point out that there are already two other Tesco stores in less than a quarter of a mile away in either direction.
Protesters have marched, lodged planning objections and attempted to occupy the store. Adopting the company's advertising slogan, they have hung banners declaring: 'Stop Tesco: Every Little Hurts'.
Teco: every little hurts
Clare MIlne: "Our campaign has been peaceful but we have been telling the police and the council that if they go ahead and open [the supermarket] this is what will happen. Our community is well known for having people who if they are silenced will act in a way that will ensure they will be heard."
"It's all about the Tesco store. A polll showed that 93% of local people didn't want it yet it went through
Tesco said that none of its staff or customers had been hurt. "I can't see how a convenience store is a threat to public safety," a spokseman added. "The reality is that people vote with their feet. People chose to shop at Tesco.
"A lot of local traders near our stores say that their trade increases because increase the footfall in the area. Our stores provide jobs for the local community and gicve people access to good value food."
ENDS