Hundreds of police officers will be out in force across Bristol ahead of more planned protests scheduled to take place tonight. Businesses across central Bristol have closed early, with many boarding up their storefronts amid concerns the city will see a repeat of Saturday night.
Another demonstration is due to take place on West Street, Old Market from around 7pm today (Wednesday, August 7). Avon and Somerset Police has said officers will allow for peaceful protest but “will not tolerate criminality of any kind”.
Bristol Commander Superintendent Mark Runacres has said hundreds of specially trained officers will be out in the city tonight, including units from other police forces. From 4pm, the force has been granted enhances stop and search powers and a dispersal zone is in place around part of the city, giving officers the power to move groups of people along.
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Like on Saturday, police have been granted enhanced powers that cover stop & search, making people remove face coverings and also greater powers to disperse people. This area covers the city centre and a large part of east Bristol, covering Easton, Redfield and Temple Meads.
Mr Runacres explained the force do not know how many people will be attending tonight’s planned demonstration, but did add that officers will respond ” respond swiftly and dynamically to any incidents of disorder”.
Commander Superintendent Mark Runacres said: “There is a lot of speculation on social media about what is going to happen tonight and this has caused a lot of concern among our communities. To be clear, at this time we are only aware of plans to gather on West Street.
“We don’t have any intelligence to corroborate rumours that people are coming from outside of the city to demonstrate and we don’t have any intelligence to corroborate rumours anyone is going to march up Stapleton Road. It is vitally important people do not trust everything they read on social media.
“We saw a post saying we had issued a warning to the community but this is not true. We have not issued any warning. We recognise people are concerned and we have put a lot of work into keeping community and business leaders in the city informed and to dispel disinformation and misinformation online.
“We have hundreds of highly trained officers available tonight who are experienced in managing large scale events and incidents of disorder, some of these are being provided by other police forces. These officers will be supported by specialist resources from our mounted, dog and drone units.
“Like on Saturday, enhanced stop and search powers will be in place under Section 60 and Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. These will be in place from 4pm today (Wednesday 7 August) until 7am tomorrow (Thursday 8 August). A Section 34 dispersal zone has also been authorised which will give officers powers to move on groups or individuals causing – or who are likely to cause – harassment, alarm or distress to others.”
You can get all the updates in our live blog here.
Mr Runacres continues: “I want to be honest with people, we do not know exactly how many people are planning to demonstrate or how they intend to express themselves. What I can say is that we will respond swiftly and dynamically to any incidents of disorder, should they occur, and will use all the powers and tactics available to us to maintain order and keep people safe.
“I urge people to let us deal with anyone who is violent, damages property or commits offences motivated by hate. We will not tolerate this behaviour and people can be reassured we will keep you safe. Those who engage in criminality, will be held accountable and will face the full force of the law.
“We have had a lot of people asking us to give advice on whether to open or close their business, whether to board it up and avoid the area. This is not something we would ever advise on. We will provide people with what we know and want be honest about what we don’t, to enable people to make their own informed decisions. Finally, I want to reiterate how proud we are to be able to serve all the diverse communities of Bristol.
“Many of our officers are from, or live and work, in the city and understand and appreciate its uniqueness and richness. Together, we will not let those who seek to cause unrest divide us. They will not win.”