![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-05-at-143218.jpg\")
Protesters on College Green(Image: Tristan Cork\/ BristolLive )<\/p>\nHundreds of people attended the protest and counter protestProtesters on College Green(Image: Tristan Cork\/ BristolLive )<\/p>\n
Three people have been arrested following an anti-immigration and counter-protest in Bristol today (Sunday, October 5).<\/p>\n
It is estimated that between 70 and 100 anti-immigration protesters attended and between 300-400 counter protesters.<\/p>\n
Protesters began to march at 2pm from the Cenotaph to College Green, surrounded by counter protesters.<\/p>\n
Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that three people have been arrested on suspicion of either assault or public order offences and remain in police custody at the time of reporting.<\/p>\n
It is not thought that anyone suffered any serious physical injuries.<\/p>\n
Designated zones at the Cenotaph and College Green were set up ahead of today’s demonstrations to allow both groups the opportunity to protest, under section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.<\/p>\n
Both groups were instructed to remain inside the designated zones, and while the protest group did so, a small group of counter protesters gathered at a location a short distance outside of the zone, police have said.<\/p>\n
At the time of the march, BristolLive reported<\/a> that there was a loud, raucous and very tense standoff between the groups as the flag-waving marchers were penned in by a tight police line on the Cathedral side of College Green in front of City Hall.<\/p>\n See our blog here for more.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Inspector John Shaddick said: \u201cWhile many people exercised their right to peaceful protest, it appears today there were a minority of individuals who were intent on using violence, including against our officers.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we made clear beforehand, hate and violence will not be tolerated and investigations will be carried out into all recorded offences.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic order policing is challenging and it is important to respond dynamically to unexpected situations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tried to engage with both protest groups in advance. While the protest group shared its plans with us, it is deeply frustrating the counter-protest group has chosen not to engage with us and failed to abide by conditions that were designed to keep the public safe, while allowing both groups the same opportunity to protest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe counter-protesters chose not to protest in the advertised zones. As a result officers positioned themselves in such a way at the Cenotaph and College Green as to allow them to still protest, but so it did not adversely impact on the protest group or the traffic situation in Bristol.<\/p>\n \u201cAn operational decision was made to show flexibility today because we felt we could still enable both groups the opportunity for peaceful protest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would always encourage protest groups to speak to us in advance so we can understand what they want to do and put the necessary plans in place, working alongside partner agencies.<\/p>\n \u201cFor this operation, public order trained officers from across Avon and Somerset were joined by colleagues from other forces, and I would like to publicly recognise their efforts today. Many of them have had rest days cancelled to allow us to carry out this effective policing operation.\u201d<\/p>\n The protest comes after Bristol has seen an increase in racially-aggravated crimes, including a nine-year-old girl racially abused and shot<\/a> with a pellet gun in Brentry, a violent attack on two men in Lawrence Hill<\/a> and the Islamophobic graffiti on a bus stop<\/a> in Bedminster<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of people attended the protest and counter protestProtesters on College Green(Image: Tristan Cork\/ BristolLive ) Three people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9312,10139,381,748,188,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-476504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-avon-and-somerset-constabulary","9":"tag-bedminster","10":"tag-bristol","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-crime","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115323186987787313","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}