Bristol Burning

Last night (Thursday 21st April) Bristol erupted as police, attempting to evict a squat in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol, were met with fierce resistance. Hundreds of people came out to defend the building, which is opposite the site of the new Tesco Express and forms part of the local opposition against the Tesco supermarket chain. Wheelie bins were set on fire, police vehicles attacked and the Tesco branch itself was all but destroyed.

Dozens of activists have been living at Telepathic Heights, a squatted three-storey building covered in graffiti murals and stands on the Cheltenham Road which has become the frontline of community activism in the area. The squat was due for eviction which many believe came about due to the pressure exerted on the local authorities by Tesco to make Cheltenham Road ‘safe’ for the Tesco brand. The riot lasted most of the night with road blocks and continuous running battles as hundreds of police attempted to control the angry protesters.

There has been a massive community campaign to prevent Tesco opening yet another store in Bristol, already the supemarket giant has 17 supermarkets in the city, with strong local opposition against the store in stokes Croft. Amid heavy criticism the council gave permission for the store to open.

As one eye witness report said about last night’s riot: “For a long time there was a deadlock, people stood around and shared rumours about the reason behind the army of police that had arrived unnanounced and were terrorising the neighbourhood.

There was total confusion and stokes croft (street) was mostly cordoned off, the police started making arrests and then all hell broke loose. Missiles began coming down from telepathic heights, the starting point of the problem and police braugh out dogs to clear people from the street, quite a few got bitten. Meanwhile a lot of police vans had their tyres let out. At that point the dogs retreated and the convoy of about 10 vans that were surrounded drove at speed through the crowd clipping a large number of people on their way out. Both Tesco and telepathic heights were abandoned by the police”.

It’s understood nine people have so far been arrested.