A police force has paid damages to protesters who allege they were assaulted by officers when they broke up a peaceful “kill the bill” demonstration in Bristol.
One of the protesters alleges that an officer struck him in the face with a shield, leaving him scarred, and a second claims she struggled to breathe when she was crushed beneath two police shields. They say they witnessed another protester being dragged along the ground by his long hair.
Avon and Somerset police confirmed they had settled the claims, but had not admitted liability. The force disputes the accounts and has insisted the officers’ actions were not unlawful.
The incidents took place on 23 March 2021 on College Green, in the city centre, after protesters gathered to highlight concerns about measures in the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill that they feared would discriminate against the Gypsy, Romany and Traveller communities.
After a day of peaceful protest, large numbers of police officers wearing body armour and carrying shields advanced on the demonstrators and forced them off the green.
Flora Sidebottom, 23, Lee Guy, 34, and two others who have asked not to be named allege they were assaulted. A fifth, Luke Wentworth, 33, who tried to act as a liaison between the protesters and police, said he was traumatised by the violence he saw. All five argued that their legitimate right to protest was unlawfully curtailed.
Sidebottom, a youth worker and teaching assistant, said she attended because she feared measures proposed in the bill would threaten vulnerable communities. She said it felt especially important to protest because the proposed law was being pushed though during the pandemic when there was little parliamentary scrutiny.
“The day unfolded peacefully,” she said. “There were songs and people were doing circus skills and sharing experiences. It was gentle and intimate.” But at about 10pm the protesters were “surrounded” by police in body armour, carrying shields and batons, she said.
“We sat down and shouted, ‘Peaceful protest.’ But they started battering everybody,” Sidebottom said. “I remember looking one officer in the eye. I said: ‘I have a right to be here.’ He started bashing me with his shield. My perception was that he was enjoying it. Two were pushing me down with shields and I was shouting, ‘I can’t breathe.’ I was covered in bruises afterwards.”
Guy, an artist, said: “Democracy was effectively suspended by the pandemic. I felt it was my duty to be there. A line of police marched towards us. We sat down, hands in the air. Then, bam! I was smashed in a face with a shield. I was bleeding quite a lot.”
Wentworth, also an artist, said he acted as a liaison between the protesters and police. “But the tone suddenly changed. One minute we were singing songs and talking about our human rights, the next we were being surrounded. We chose to try to protest in a peaceful and amicable way and we were beaten up.”
Wentworth said he was not struck himself, but he saw others who were. “I feel the current trajectory is like Hong Kong, where the relationship between the people and police has broken down.”
A police spokesperson said: “We can confirm Avon and Somerset police has settled claims brought by five people in relation to the decision to disperse them from College Green, Bristol, on 23 March 2021, when Covid-19 restrictions were in place. Each of the settlements have been made without admission of liability.
“Several allegations were made as part of the various claims. Those allegations were denied by Avon and Somerset police and the settlements made without accepting liability.”
In legal correspondence with the public law and human rights department at the law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represents the protesters, Avon and Somerset police claimed their actions to halt the protest were lawful under coronavirus regulations.
But the protesters’ lawyers argued that the police failed to consider issues including the actual health risks posed by the demonstration, the health risks arising from using force to clear it, and the options for engaging with protesters to avoid a forcible dispersal.
Gus Silverman, of Irwin Mitchell, said: “At its heart, this case is about the police failing to understand the significant legal protections afforded to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, particularly in the context of protests criticising government policy. Those rights can only be interfered with when it is strictly necessary to do so, and only then when the interference is proportionate.
“There was a widespread misunderstanding, both within Avon and Somerset and nationally, that the coronavirus regulations effectively outlawed protests. This was never the case.”
