Police in Bristol are preparing for a repeat of the protest march and counter protest which took place in the city centre last year, which saw angry confrontations outside the Hippodrome.
A group calling itself the Bristol Patriots has announced it intends to hold a protest march from the Cenotaph in Bristol city centre on Saturday under the banner of ‘Enough is Enough’, calling on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to be forced out.
A coalition of anti-racism groups have called for a counter protest of their own, which is called ‘We hate Keir Starmer more than you’ – one of the chants directed from the counter protesters’ side towards the anti-immigration protesters who gathered several times in Bristol last year outside converted hotels housing asylum seekers.
Avon and Somerset police said it would enacting the same strategies as last time the two sides clashed back in early October, and would be trying to keep the two sides apart while allowing lawful protest.
Bristol Patriots have called on their supporters to gather at the Cenotaph at 11am ahead of a march at 12 noon on Saturday.
In a post on their Facebook page, they said: “The majority of the UK is ready for change. If you are tired of Keir Starmer and this Labour government, this Saturday is the time to make your voice heard. We are taking to the streets of Bristol to say it loud and clear: We want Starmer out.”
In a previous post this week on the Bristol Patriots page, the group hailed US action to kidnap Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and take him to New York in custody. The Bristol Patriots group called on US President Donald Trump to do the same to the UK.
“While the world keeps debating what Trump did over the weekend, I think the majority of Brits with common sense are thinking the same thing: We’d love for him to give Starmer the same treatment,” the post said.
Immigration and Anti Immigration protests in the centre of Bristol Sunday 5 October 2025 where the two sides clashed(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
Counter protesters from a range of anti-racism organisations and campaign groups in Bristol have pledged to challenge the Bristol Patriots’ Saturday protest march.
Organisers have called their demonstration ‘We hate Keir Starmer more than you’, and called for people to gather at the Cenotaph too – at 10am, an hour earlier.
“We hate Kier Starmer more than you – this is more than just a chant,” a spokesperson for the counter protest said.
“Starmer’s Labour party has cut disability benefits, vilified trans people, proscribed activist groups, introduced anti-migrant policies and are now pushing forward Digital IDs.
“These policies pander to Labour’s wealthy donors, not ordinary people. However, when racists like ‘Bristol Patriots’ call ‘anti-Starmer’ marches, it’s because they believe he is housing asylum seekers – they just wish he was more authoritarian and further to the right.
“We stand against Bristol Patriots because of their racist and anti-migrant views, not because we ourselves support the current system. Make no mistake. This is an anti-migrant hate rally dressed up as anti-Labour,” they said.
Protesters on College Green (Image: Tristan Cork/ BristolLive )
October's events in The Centre saw around 80 people march under an anti-immigration banner from the Cenotaph through The Centre to College Green. There were confrontational scenes as around 400 counter protesters lined the route outside the Hippodrome and then surrounded the marchers on College Green for several hours, with both sides kept apart by lines of police officers.
Avon and Somerset police had tried to make the counter-protesters remain in an area to the north of the Cenotaph, and not gather on the route for the march, but counter-protesters ignored police demands to disperse from the area around statue of Neptune in The Centre, and outside the Hippodrome, and the Bristol Patriots had to march through hostile crowds on either side.
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