‘KILL the Bill’ mass demonstrations took place against the Tory government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in cities around the country on Friday and Saturday.
Protests were held in UK towns and cities including Manchester, Brighton, Bristol, Bath, Falmouth, Nottingham, Sheffield, Cambridge and Kingston.
In Manchester ‘significant disruption’ was caused by protesters sitting on the Metrolink tram line in St Peter’s Square, in defiance of repeated warnings from the police, who made at least 18 arrests.
In Brighton hundreds of protesters were met with a line of police officers guarding the entrance to Brighton Police Station in John Street, with banners reading, ‘Silence is compliance’.
In Cambridge hundreds gathered outside Parkside police station, with some protesters climbing on top of the entrance lobby.
Protesters met in Kingston town centre at lunchtime on Saturday despite a call from the Metropolitan Police and Kingston’s MP ‘strongly’ advising people not to attend any gathering ‘for the protection of yourselves and others’.
Friday’s third night of protests in Bristol was condemned as ‘disgraceful’ by Prime Minister Johnson, after 10 people were arrested in the city.
Johnson tweeted that the police had his full support and called protesters a ‘mob intent on violence and causing damage to property’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘Despite repeated warnings to disperse, it’s clear these thugs were only intent on causing trouble.’
In Bristol on Friday night, protesters were dancing outside the police station, handing out flowers and chanting slogans such as ‘Who do you protect?’ and ‘Justice for Sarah,’ in reference to Sarah Everard’s killing.
- Avon and Somerset police have retracted widely reported claims that officers suffered broken bones and a punctured lung last Sunday night.
The claims were in a press release on Monday that ‘a total of 20 officers were assaulted or injured and two of them were taken to hospital after suffering broken bones. One of them also suffered a punctured lung.’
But in an updated press release on Wednesday, the force admitted this was not true, saying: ‘Thankfully, following a full medical assessment of the two officers taken to hospital, neither were found to have suffered confirmed broken bones.’
