"Like something out of a film": Bristol's Kill the Bill riot one year on
We take a look back at the Kill the Bill protest that turned violent
Last updated 21st Mar 2022
Walking around outside Bridewell Police Station at around 10pm that evening, the thing that struck me most was the atmosphere.
By that point, much of the worst violence had already happened.
Directly outside the station, a police van sat abandoned and covered in graffiti.
Halfway down Bridewell Street another police van had been completely burnt out, while outside the popular bar turned bowling alley, The Lanes, a third police vehicle was well alight.
Broken glass littered the ground; evidence of bottles thrown at officers earlier on.
Yet despite these signs of the extreme violence that had gone before, the scene at that point could be best described as like a bizarre street party.
Speakers in the street blared out music to which some danced. Lines of people queued up to take selfies with the destroyed vehicles and dozens simply stood amongst it all, socialising and making jokes.
Though the signs were there, it was a far cry from what had unfolded just a few hours earlier, when a peaceful march against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, to give it its full name, came to an end.
For now, the police had surrendered the streets.
WATCH: We speak to Bristol24/7 editor Martin Booth about his memories of the riot
Initial protest ends peacefully
The day's events began in the early afternoon, when thousands of people marched through the centre of Bristol.
Many see the proposed legislation as an attack on free speech, as it would impose several restrictions on protests including noise limits.
As such, the "Kill the Bill" movement, was born.
In March 2021 though, a protest like this was against coronavirus restrictions at the time, which only allowed two people to meet outdoors. The rule of six would be introduced a little over a week later, on March 29.
To avoid potential prosecution there was no official organiser, but given the scale of people set to attend, it was facilitated by the police rather than broken up.
For several hours the march went ahead without incident, so much so that journalist Martin Booth, editor of the Bristol24/7 magazine, went home in the early evening believing things to be over.
Quickly though, a breakaway group of several hundred people began to gather outside Bridewell Police station and the atmosphere began to change.
Things begin to heat up
It is worth noting at this point that at the time of the protest, anger and suspicion directed towards the police by some, was at its highest level for years.
Less than two weeks earlier, Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens had been charged with kidnapping and murdering Sarah Everard, while on March 13 officers in London had violently broken up a vigil in Sarah's memory saying it broke coronavirus rules.
It was in this context that the breakaway group began to direct its attention towards officers from Avon and Somerset Police.
Meanwhile, having been told things were beginning to escalate, Martin Booth returned to the scene.
We sat down with him for an exclusive chat about his memories from the day.
"When I arrived at Bridewell they had two lines of police in front of the police station," he said.
"There was a different feel, a different atmosphere. Things were happening that I hadn't seen happening with my own eyes before.
"What initially was jostling against police lines became much more violent.
"There were projectiles being thrown from above and you could see the police reacting to this by introducing more officers, and then introducing animals, horses and dogs as well."
Having started outside the police station, the violence began to spread further down Bridewell Street, where the first police van was set on fire.
"Early the next morning I saw lines of police being confronted by protestors with what I now know is heras fencing...and this is against a backdrop of a burning police van.
"So over the course of one day we saw a typical protest, marching around the city, go to a congregation of people outside the police station and then almost before you realised, we had a significant riot on our hands."
The spark
In the days following the riot there was widespread condemnation of what happened, including from the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel, with the former calling it "disgraceful", but several of those involved suggested the violence had been started by the police.
We asked Martin for his opinion.
"I was doing a lot of video recording at the time and so looking back at this contemporaneous footage that I was shooting, what was interesting was that the footage showed bottles, objects, other projectiles being thrown at the police lines," he said.
"That to me, looked like it was the powder keg...
"It looked to me that, that perhaps was an escalation, but this was against perhaps what some people might see as a provocation from the police, who had dressed specifically for an escalation of proceedings.
"I can only tell you now what I saw."
Aftermath
In the days and weeks following the riot several more protests took place, despite the coronavirus restrictions.
Two were eventually broken up by the police with force, leading the police to be criticised for what some saw as overly aggressive tactics.
A parliamentary report by a cross party group of MPs later concluded police "breached fundamental rights" in their handling of the follow up protests, but this has been passionately and consistently denied by the Avon and Somerset Constabulary.
To date, a year later, 15 people have been convicted of involvement in the initial riot on March 21, 2021.
Most recently, Jasmine York, who is 26 and from Arnos Vale, was sentenced to nine months in prison, half of which she will serve on licence, after being found guilty of arson.
She was caught on camera pushing a bin towards one of the burning vehicles to add fuel to the fire.
Around two dozen others have been charged with offences and are waiting for their day in court.
Speaking to us, Martin summarised his memories.
"It was a situation that was something out of a film," he said.
"It was something that I had never expected to witness with my own eyes in my own city."
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