Bristol Antifascists Statement:
Yesterday (Saturday 3rd August 2024), Bristol Antifascists joined with antiracist and antifascist groups from Bristol and the South West, along with hundreds of Bristolians, to oppose a far right “Stop the Boats” protest.
We want people to understand up front: hundreds of normal Bristolians held the line yesterday against a brutal, sustained assault by fascists trying to attack a hotel housing migrant and asylum seeker families with very young children. The police absolutely failed in their duty to protect these families.
Disorganised, incompetent and hopelessly outnumbered by fascists, Avon and Somerset Police and the other forces brought in from outside the area would have, if left to their own devices yesterday, allowed a pogrom to happen.
At this stage everyone is familiar with the murders of Bebe, Elsie and Alice in Southport on Monday (29th August 2024). Our hearts are broken for these little girls and their families and loved ones. We cannot imagine the pain they are suffering at this time. We wish a speedy recovery to the other children and adults injured and traumatised by this attack.
Far right and fascist groups are using this tragedy, and the categorically false story that the attacker was a migrant or asylum seeker and a Muslim as an excuse to carry out violent pogroms against those members of our communities around the country.
Bristol Antifascists and our comrades joined a static, peaceful, counter-protest of around 700 people at 6pm at Castle Park. Throughout this hour small groups of fascists and far right attempted to provoke or even attack people around the edges of the protest. By around 7pm a larger group of around 100-200 fascists had gathered nearby in Castle Park. The fascists had clearly been drinking all day, and full of Dutch courage were keen on violence, attempting to March directly into the static-counter protest next to St Nicholas’ Church.
What ensued was a series of attacks against the static protest by fascists as they repeatedly broke through the hopelessly thin police lines. We faced full cans of beer and cider, glass bottles,and large stones being thrown and a series of direct physical assaults by groups of pissed-up and coked-up wannabe hard men, who were repeatedly sent packing by far better organised counter-protestors and antifascists. Even with horses and attack dogs, the police were far too outnumbered and far to disorganised to efectively control the fascists, and collective self defence was the only thing keeping everybody safe.
Eventually the fascists had retreated to Bristol Bridge. Knowing that they were believed to be intending to head to Redcliffe Hill, where the Mercure Hotel housing migrant families is located, a quick decision was made by a total of around 200-250 counter-protestors to head around via Queen Square to the Hotel to protect it.
When we arrived the police were all but completely absent, with a handful of cops on bicycles who had followed us being the only visible presence. Conscious of our potentially scary appearance to residents at the hotel, we made certain to demonstrate our solidarity and love for them, with waves, thumbs up, and heart signs exchanged between antifascists and residents of the hotel. It was really notable just how many of the residents are very young, primary school aged children. The downstairs lobby windows are covered with kids’ drawnings and paintings.
A group of counter-protestors formed a line and linked arms across the hotel entrance while still more of us formed into a tight bloc on the grassy area in front of the hotel. After about 30 minutes a group of around 80-100 fascists, who had broken away from the police on Bristol Bridge, marched up Redcliffe Hill and immediately began to attack us outside the hotel. Again, the police were wildly outnumbered and unable to effectively defend themselves, let alone anyone else.
For a sustained period of around 15-20 minutes, antifascists stood firm, defending ourselves and each other from a constant, intense assault of fists, kicks, bottles and stones thrown at us by fascists intent on attacking the hotel and its residents. The handful of police present flailed, hitting people seemingly at random with batons, and occasionally PAVA-spraying groups of people.
When police enforcements finally arrived in the form of attack dogs, horses and extra officers, the fascists lost their bottle and retreated to the other side of Redcliffe Hill. They remained there in rapidly dwindling numbers, occasionally hurling the odd insult or glass bottle at the counter-protestors, but ultimately unable to muster another attempt at attacking the hotel.
The majority of the 200-250 counter protestors stayed outside the hotel to protect it until around 9pm when Green Party Bristol City Councillors who had began encouraging people to leave telling them that the police would now have the situation under contol. Bristol Antifascists want to make it clear: this was wrong of them. The police had demonstrated a total lack of ability to defend the people housed in the Mercure Hotel or to contain the fascist threat in our city. There was still the potential for fascists to regroup and try again to attack the hotel. Around 50-60 people chose to stay at the hotel as it got dark. We’d received a request from parents inside the hotel to keep things quiet as they were putting young children to bed, and we happily obliged.
At around 10pm, as larger numbers of police arrived at the hotel, those of us remaining decided the time was right to quietly leave as a group and then disperse in a safe area in town. However, this wasn’t before the police decided to reassert their authority after a frankly humiliating day for them. While people were largely sat quietly on the grass or stood around chatting in front of the hotel entrance, a group of cops in riot get suddenly pushed their way to the front of the hotel, hitting, shoving and shouting at counter-protestors for no apparent reason. Fine. Let them believe they’re in charge. Whatever keeps them quiet.
Despite clear confusion and a lack of communication between different groups of police trying to send us in opposite directions, we eventually left the Redcliffe Hill area, and quietly disbanded, blending back into the now quiet night of the city we live in and love so much.
We want to drive that point home: the media and politicians and police will talk about “protestors” and “the public” as though they’re two mutually exclusive groups of people. We *are* the public. This city is *our* home, and the people who live in it, of every race, ethnicity and religion are our neighbours and friends. So too are the residents of the Mercure Hotel. Bristol welcomes migrants and refugees, and we *will* fight for them if we have to.
Yesterday showed the power and importance of community self-defence. Normal Bristolians put themselves in harms way to protect their neighbours in the Mercure hotel, and we stopped a violent, racist mob from doing harm to the families inside. The police were beyond useless, and it was the bravery, moral conviction, and community solidarity of the antifascist counter-protestors that kept the fascists at bay.
Again, we *are* the public. Outside of this we’re normal boring people, with normal boring lives,and normal boring jobs. Antifascism is and must be a community effort, and as this flare-up of far right violence continues, we are going to need everyone to step up and do their part to keep our communities safe around the country.
Every day is the Battle of Cable Street. Keep fighting it.
Always Antifascist. No Pasaran.
Love and Solidarity Forever.
Bristol Antifascists.
