Protesters chose to comply with police orders rather than risk physical confrontation at today’s Kill the Bill demo in Bristol.
Around 100 people gathered in College Green at 2pm today (April 17) in opposition to the proposed Police and Crime Bill, which would curtail people’s rights to peacefully protest.
That figure had dwindled to around 30 just before 7pm – and about 20 of those took part in a sit-down protest blocking traffic on St Augustine’s Parade, a key route through the centre.
For 15 to 20 minutes, there appeared to be potential for conflict, as protesters briefly defied an officer’s order to stop obstructing the route.
With a queue of buses and cars building, police put a dispersal order in place, as a senior officer used a megaphone to warn the demonstrators that force would be used against them if they did not move on from the road.
As soon as this announcement came, the protesters got to their feet and continued their march, moving up Park Street. The group thinned quickly from this point and the protest ended at around 8pm with people sitting and chatting on College Green.
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One police officer told Bristol Live: “With the sit-down in the road, it’s a bit busier now so we’re not as happy to allow it. Some people were getting a bit chopsy with the protesters, so it was as much for their safety as anything else [to move them on].”
The demonstrators’ actions throughout the day appeared to prioritise peacefulness. They made no attempt to pass through police lines preventing access to the M32 – which protesters had blocked in a previous Kill the Bill protest – and they also obliged police requests to avoid the Old Market area during their march.
The event had started with a march through the city centre, shortly after the protesters gathered on College Green. The attendance was lower than at many of the previous Kill the Bill events, but it was no less noisy, with a samba beat ringing out from demonstrators’ drums and cowbells.
A dispute broke out in Broadmead between the protesters and a preacher who said he was there first. The demonstrators had started drumming in front of a Yorkshire puddings van, near where the preacher, Robert Michael, had been spreading the message of Christianity.
The 45-year-old from Exeter then started to work in harmony with the protest. Shouting “God is good”, he said he had not expected the march to take over his spot, but he supported people “desiring a change”.
The protesters then returned to College Green, where more than a dozen of them took turns with the microphone to make speeches, covering a wider range of issues than just the Police and Crime Bill.
One sex worker took the opportunity to criticise Mayor Marvin Rees’ attempts to close strip clubs in Bristol. She said: “If they come for strippers, then they come for online sex workers, then they come for glamour models, you think they’re not gonna come for you?”
A placard could be seen in the crowd bearing the words: “Sex work is real work.”
Opposition to the monarchy was also aired, with one protester carrying a placard calling for it to be abolished. He said he did not believe this was insensitive on the day of Prince Philip’s funeral.
Pointing to racially insensitive comments made by Prince Philip, he said: “I don’t see why we should feel sorry for him. It’s not my family member or yours. It could be a lot more offensive.”
Sita Ruskin, a 34-year-old of Horfield, criticised the bill itself.
She said: “I’m a member of Extinction Rebellion (XR), and under Priti Patel’s proposed Bill I’m really concerned for our general right to protest, but particularly around the climate. There are sections which seem to be aimed at cracking down on non-violent protests like XR.”
One speaker on College Green said the protesters feel like they have “no place in a society which is supposed to be serving us”.
Another, a 53-year-old woman, revealed she had faced regular discrimination and attacks because she is a traveller, adding: "It's a scary place out there." She voiced fears the proposed bill could criminalise travellers' way of life.
With around 20 police officers on College Green, there seemed to be a higher ratio of officers to protesters than at the previous events. During the speeches, there was around one officer for every three protesters, and protester numbers fell further during a second march across the city centre.
Following the dispersal on St Augustine’s Parade, the remaining demonstrators walked up Park Street, through Hotwells and back to College Green.
The protest ended with people sitting, chatting and drinking on the green at around 8pm.
You can see a recap of the live coverage here, and read more about the proposed bill here.
