Sir Keir Starmer urged to condemn candidates who criticised police over Bristol protests

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to condemn Labour politicians who criticised police for "excessive force" in dealing with illegal Kill the Bill protests in Bristol.

A group of 16 Labour candidates for the forthcoming city council elections put their names to an open letter condemning "chilling" scenes of police using "excessive force" against protesters demonstrating against the Government's new criminal justice Bill.

Their letter was in stark contrast to a defence of police and the tactics used to clear people staging sit-down protests on Tuesday and Friday by Marvin Rees, the Labour Mayor of Bristol.

He said: "Avon and Somerset Police in Bristol have shown they are capable of managing protests well and with sensitivity and have developed a strong culture of working with our communities."

Both protests, and one which ended in a riot at Bridewell police station 10 days ago, were illegal under coronavirus restrictions, and police had allowed each to continue for hours before taking steps to physically move people on from the locations.

It follows criticism last week after a Labour MP refused to condemn the protesters, who set police vehicles on fire and left 20 officers injured.

Nadia Whittome, the Nottingham East MP, said she wished "everyone who has been hurt a speedy recovery" but insisted she would not "condemn protesters until we know exactly what happened" and called for an investigation into the police response.

A Conservative party spokesman said: "The Labour leadership are trying to talk tough on crime, but coming just two weeks after voting against longer sentences for rapists and child murderers shows they clearly have a short memory.

"Keir Starmer needs to quickly condemn his candidates for standing on the side of anarchists and not local residents."

Labour leadership sources said they were not going to comment, pointing to Sir Keir's previous condemnation of the protests and the comments by Mr Rees.

A report by HM inspectorate of police into officers tactics at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard is due to be published on Wednesday after being ordered by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary.