Bristol’s enraged Mayor Marvin Rees has slammed those involved in Sunday’s riot which saw 20 police officers injured some seriously. The outburst occurred as concerned people took to the streets of Bristol to protest a bill that will give UK police draconian new powers that bring to mind Stalin’s notorious Soviet Union.

Ranting on Monday, the mayor said the violence had nothing to do with what he described as ‘real everyday struggles’ that people have been facing during the pandemic. ’It’s selfish, it is self-indulgent and self-centred,’ he contended. 

‘This has nothing to do with being in lockdown (a prison that keeps convicts in their cells) for a year. Bizarrely, the ‘mad mayor of Bristol’ claimed there are people who go around looking for the latest demo,’ Rees stated. 

On Sunday, as unrest spread across the city and a police station was put under siege by protesters, the mayor said it was a ‘shameful’ day for the city.  

Thousands of concerned citizens fearful for their jobs and families descended on Bristol on Sunday to demonstrate against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill but clashes with law enforcement soon broke out as the angry protest turned violent. 

A total of 20 officers were injured, two seriously, as police vans burned and a station was surrounded by an angry mob. Avon and Somerset Police made seven arrests, six for violent disorder and a seventh for possession of an offensive weapon. 

The bill, which would expand police powers and increase sentences for those committing ‘serious annoyance or inconvenience’ in public, passed its second reading in the House of Commons last week but will face further scrutiny before it is enacted. Source