In the late evening and very early hours of Thursday 21st April and Friday 22nd April respectively, the attempted purge of a Tesco Express from the streets of Stokes Croft ended in a miserable failure. Although I don’t expect the store to be opening tomorrow, it nevertheless survived judging by both the amateur recordings and media footage taken of the night. Almost ironically, the sign at the very least stayed completely intact, which surprised me because whilst time usually wears off a few random letters, several firebombs, flying debris and battering rams could not shift a single one. Even the panel on which the sign was emblazoned still looked rather shiny. I mean, come on, if you’re going to kick off like that I expect to be reading “Te-co”, “-esco”, or just “o” – as in, the realisation that maybe this could have been predicted by the oracles I presume the all-powerful Mr Philip Clarke has at his disposal.
In the events of the night, I have to side with the police in their reaction. I know we only have their word for this, but it seems fairly reasonable: they received tip offs from numerous independent sources that there was going to be a violent reaction on the night in question, and that dangerous objects were being made for the event – a fact made all the more real when they started throwing the buggers. As far as I’m concerned, the police reacted correctly. They deployed in response to sources verifying the creation of firebombs, and then called in more forces from other stations when they felt the violence could escalate. I mean, come on, this is Stokes Croft; it has an existing precedence for this sort of thing. And considering what they were protesting against, I think the police reacted properly.
Despite this, I have difficulty pinning all the blame on the protesters, although they should take most of the credit for the damage caused and the disturbance created. My housemate, who has to travel through Stokes Croft to get to work, did so early on yesterday morning and described the scene from the Polish Church down to the Canteen as “a sea of glass”. He thought it a wonder his tyres weren’t punctured. Whilst he has a knack for exaggerating things, and he admits he was quite tired (it was about five in the morning), I imagine it wasn’t too far from the truth. On his way back from work at approximately half past four in the afternoon, they were still clearing up the mess and this time was forced to take a detour. The reason I find it hard to pin the blame on the protesters is because I can’t help but feel that Tesco really should have seen this coming.
I used to work for Tesco not that long ago, and was having a conversation one day with a colleague who thought all the people protesting the (at the time proposal-stage) store rather odd; it provides stable jobs, affordable food and drink, and actually makes the place look kind of nice whilst the shop front is new. Stokes Croft – and forgive me all those who think otherwise – is a dive, a complete waste of space that is desperately trying to be artistic and cool but is actually failing miserably. I come from a town that succeeded in being Bohemian, so I have a good frame of reference, and I can tell you that Stokes Croft is not what it is trying to be. I have respect for Totnes. I don’t have respect for Stokes Croft. Just because it has one Banksy scribbled on the side of a building (a building two of my current housemates once lived in – and even they hated the area) doesn’t mean it’s effing… erm… [insert cool, arty farty type location here].
I’m not saying Stokes Croft needs the Tesco Express. I’m saying it’s not worth setting fire to things about. Sure, you want to express yourself (no pun intend… actually, yes there was) but it’s no use causing massive damage to private property and then not expect an army of police officers merging into phalanx formation and shouting “This… Is… BRISTOL!!!” at the top of their voices. I mean, I don’t know if they did that, but it’s how I’m picturing it in my head.
Heh. Awesome.
Protest is fine. But there’s a thick line drawn in permanent marker that distinguishes “peaceful protest” from “rioting with fire at night”. Stick to the former, and you may actually get your message across. At the very least you’ll be able to show your distaste regardless of feelings of resentment or allegiance from authority and you may even get support from influential groups or persons. Don’t let that one idiot with a Molotov cocktail cross that thick line, because all you’ll get is resentment from persons with an objective view. All I have is two words for those people turning over the big white trailer on Cheltenham Road, smashing their way into the Tesco Express, throwing homemade firebombs at the police and the PRSC members supporting them:
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