Bristol journalist witnesses ‘best of city’ as people step in to stop far-right protesters

A reporter has described how he saw the best of his home city as he witnessed people responding with kindness to far-right protests.

Tristan Cork, chief reporter at BristolLive, described how he saw people rallying to protect places which were the target of protests.

Writing for BristolLive in an article which inspired Monday’s front page of the Bristol Post, Tristan witnessed ‘terrible’ scenes as far-right protesters abused black people, before they began walking towards a hotel housing asylum seekers — but unlike in Tamworth and Rotherham, where hotels were attacked, local people were able to step in.

Tristan said: “There were no police there at the time — and the police need to explain why. What panned out was, a group of the counter-protesters, maybe fewer than 100 at first, but it quickly grew to 200, did what the police didn’t and accurately predicted that the real battleground those marching and chanting Tommy Robinson’s name wanted was at this hotel.

“The counter protesters gathered themselves and lined up in front of the main entrance, physically protecting it. They were abused, punched and kicked at. There were scuffles, one lad was kicked off his bike. The intention of the lads who arrived wasn’t clear — to demonstrate peacefully outside? Or to get in?

“We’ve seen what these people do to libraries in Liverpool and police stations in Sunderland. A hotel in Bristol? It honestly doesn’t bear thinking about. But it didn’t happen, not because the police stopped them, but because ordinary people from Bristol stopped them. They put their bodies on the line, they put themselves in the face of people intent on violence, and stood firm.

“They did something that is far too lacking in today’s polarised discourse and debate — they put themselves out for a stranger, someone they’ve never met. They stood in the way to stop those people being potentially hurt or worse.

“The message from the front of that hotel was a direct one to them, as well as those pumped up enough to want to cause trouble about it — You’ve been told to blame the wrong people. And if you attack them, we’ll defend them.”

You can read Tristan’s full account on the BristolLive website.