“The police and town have my full assist,” Boris Johnson mentioned. (File)
London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday condemned “disgraceful assaults” on police after a 3rd night time of violence hit the western metropolis of Bristol by protesters condemning new crime laws.
Police in Bristol arrested 10 individuals on Friday night time after what they referred to as “violent conduct” on the protest, which swelled to 1,000 contributors regardless of a authorities ban on mass gatherings owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier “Kill the Invoice” demonstrations in Bristol final Sunday and Tuesday additionally turned violent, with protesters demanding the withdrawal of the laws, which critics say harshly restricts the suitable to peaceable protest.
“Final night time noticed disgraceful assaults in opposition to cops in Bristol,” Johnson mentioned on Twitter.
“Our officers mustn’t must face having bricks, bottles and fireworks being thrown at them by a mob intent on violence and inflicting injury to property,” he mentioned.
“The police and town have my full assist.”
Protesters in Bristol have accused police of extreme drive, and mocked them after the native drive was pressured to confess that it was mistaken in initially saying some officers had suffered damaged bones final Sunday.
Additional protests in opposition to the invoice occurred later Saturday in a number of different British cities, regardless of police warnings for individuals to remain away due to the coronavirus ban.
Within the northern metropolis of Manchester, police arrested 18 individuals who had blocked tram strains after the majority of different protesters had left peacefully.
Earlier, the protesters had marched by way of town centre, and took the knee in entrance of a mural of George Floyd, the African-American man whose dying within the US final yr below police arrest sparked a worldwide wave of Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Police within the south-coast metropolis of Brighton confronted off with protesters who had blockaded the highway exterior a downtown police station.
The chanting crowd peaked at as much as 300 individuals at one level, however had largely dispersed by late Saturday, Brighton newspaper The Argus reported.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
