Five far-left Antifa-style radicals have been jailed for their roles in a ‘Kill the Bill’ riot in Bristol, England in March, in which police officers were attacked and law enforcement vehicles were set on fire.
Kane Adamson, Brandon Lloyd, Kain Simmonds, and Stuart Quinn have been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to joining the riot outside Bridewell Police Station on March 21st.
Adamson, 21, of Lockleaze, Bristol, was found to have hurled road signs, a road work barrier, and even an electric scooter at officers, whom he also physically attacked, punching and kicking at them repeatedly. The leftist radical was sentenced to three years and six months, according to an Avon and Somerset Police statement.
Simmonds, 18, from Springfield, Birmingham, and Quinn, 46, of St Paul’s, Bristol, were both sentenced to three years and three months, with Simmonds to serve his term in a young offenders institution.
Simmonds sprayed an aerosol into the face of a police officer and caused damage to the police station as well as a police van, which he attacked with a police baton.
Quinn was found to have incited people to attack officers, and also threw items damaging the station and a vehicle.
Brandon Lloyd, 21, of Henbury, Bristol, received three years and 11 months for assaulting a police constable, attacking other officers and damaging the police station.
The fifth defendant in the trial, Yasmin Schneider, 25, from St Paul’s, Bristol, received five months after she urinated at the feet of one police officer and exposed herself in front of a number of others.
It should be noted that criminals in Britain do not usually serve anything close to their headline sentences in custody, often being entitled to automatic early release on licence halfway or, more rarely, two-thirds of the way through their terms unless they receive a so-called “life” sentences — which are also usually misleading.
The ‘Kill the Bill’ riot against Home Secretary Priti Patel’s policing bill cost the taxpayer £212,000 in damages to the police station and vehicles, alone. The true cost is likely to be much higher when factoring in the extra police hours required to manage the riot as well as the extensive investigation following the riot.
So far, 75 people have been arrested, with 29, including the five sentenced this week, being arrested in connection to the far-left riot.
Judge James Patrick said: “I have read all of the victim personal statements and I found them very moving. There were many officers injured and many officers, and their families, who have been greatly affected by the incident. Some officers thought they would die and some officers could not even speak about it to their families.
“Officers were struck, spat on, kicked and punched some whilst defenceless on the ground. It was fortunate some were not more seriously hurt. This lasted from the evening to the very early hours.
“They [the officers] are all public servants and are all human beings. What you did was to dehumanise them.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Carolyn Belafonte, Head of Investigations, said: “What happened on the night of Sunday 21 March 2021 was nothing short of reprehensible.
“The sustained violence, the likes of which we have not seen in this city or even the country for many years, had absolutely nothing to do with any protest.
“Dozens of people came together and acted as a mob to attack and injure police officers, set fire to police vehicles and damage a neighbourhood police station.”
Protesting and rioting continued in the following weeks, with leftists even attempting to establish a tent city Bristol Autonomous Zone (BAZ), similar to the infamous Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in the United States.
The protests and riots in Bristol were largely glossed over or excused by the mainstream media in the United Kingdom, with the BBC publishing an article at the time hailing the city for its “rich timeline of resistance”.
The leftist “resistance” n the city was perhaps best exemplifed by events last summer, when Black Lives Matter activists tore down a historic statue of slavery-linked British philanthropist and parliamentarian Edward Colston, before dragging it through the streets and dumping it in the harbour while police did nothing.
In response to the March 21st riot, American Antifa watcher Andy Ngo compared Bristol to his native Portland — a hotbed of Antifa violence in the United States — writing: “Bristol is nowhere near as bad or grim as my hometown. However, if British law enforcement continue to turn a blind eye to far-left political violence in the city, yesterday’s riots will indeed become a daily norm. Antifa are already calling for it to become so.”
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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