Riot in my Garden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkCvka1uwuo

There was a bit of a commotion last Thursday! We were first alerted to the start of the trouble, when we heard the police helicopters flying over head as we were eating our Thursday meal of stir fry and noodles... plus a cup of cider from my newly chipped best mug.

We went to investigate and found about six riot vans parked around the new, controversial Tesco that had opened up in stokes croft. There had been much debate on the subject of the new Tesco, as there had been a fair amount of protesting when it was first discovered that there was to be a new Tesco opening up in the Stokes Croft area.

Stokes Croft prides itself on having a collective community spirit, and encourages local buying and produce. Despite the opposition, Tesco still had the arrogance to go ahead with the build and so therefore there should have been little surprise that protesting continued after the opening of the shop. I personally shop at Tesco when needed, mainly due to being very skint and being able to pay by card when I have only 8 quid in the bank and can't take out any more cash - HOWEVER, I don't think that stokes croft itself needed another Tesco....especially when there was already one on Jamaica street and a newly opened Sainsbury up Gloucester road. Plus its the principle that counts, meaning that a big corporation as well as the local council should care enough to listen to the local people and restrain their money grabbing and pushy ways, and give the area enough space to breathe instead of shoving another Tesco down our throats.

Anyway, at about 8pm there were more police than anything else, including riot vans from south wales believe it or not. A crowd had begun to mill about out of curiosity, but we decided that there wasn't much else happening, so we went to the pub.

After about two hours we had had enough of sitting in a pub where we couldn't afford any alcohol, so started to make our way back to the house. I was exhausted and just wanted to curl up and watch some 'Come dine with me ' on 4od by that time. We by-passed what we thought was the hub of the protest, and ducked down into our lane on Hepburn Road. Suddenly, as we turned the corner of the bend in the road, we heard the roar of people and saw the flicker of flames at the end of the small road, where I lived half way down. We decided to check it out, as its hard to say no to the curiosity that is woken up at the sight of mayhem.

The police/bailiff/bouncer types, had kettled everybody down towards City road and in defiance of the aggressive police presence, people had started throwing bottles, burning cares and shouting and bawling. It was a nightmare scene, that drew an even more curious crowd, which escalated in more aggressive tactics from the police lines.

At one point, the police line surged forward and I got swept along with the panicked crowd, which is a terrifying experience when you are surrounded by drunken, angry people with bottles - but even more terrifying was the fact we were being herded by the intimidating force of the police, blank behind their riot equipment and their unpredictable kettling of the general public. We were being forced down through the main Stokes Croft area at pub kicking out time, where young people and old were suddenly caught up in the riots after spending an innocent Bank Holiday night at the local pub! I believe the violence was also out of frustrating of being pushed around, when a lot of people just wanted to get home IE, me. The intimidating tactics were used towards the general public and not just the protesters, as it was herded into the very busy public area of Stokes Croft. When it gets that dangerous I think the police should have lessened their force, as none of the violence would have started or even continued, if the police had lessened their presence or had let people actually go home!

I really believe that if the police had packed up and left it would never have happened. The anger and the rioting was aimed at the police for pushing us and herding us around - and without that incitement it would never have happened. I've got to say that I have never felt like I am living in a Big Brother state as much as I did last night - all because we as the stokes croft residents were against ANOTHER Tesco! It was very intimidating and they used bullying tactics to deal with the situation. People don't like being herded like animals, and will attack if backed into a corner.

Big Brother does not always know best.