Bristol crimewave could be a result of extreme anarchist groups, police say

24 crimes ascribed to domestic extremists

A controversial new branch of Tesco in the Stokes Croft area was fiercely opposed when plans for its construction were first announced (Getty)

Police in Bristol have acknowledged that up to 24 crimes in the city over the past three years – including an arson attack on a police firearms training centre - could be the work of extreme anarchists.

Anarchist groups have previously claimed to be behind the crime wave, saying they were also responsible for arson attacks on cars belonging to local Conservative councillors and a similar attack on a radio transmitter.

Although no-one has been charged with offences relating to any of the incidents, Chief Supt Julian Moss said: “These are primarily criminality but we also categorise it as domestic extremism. We are not categorising it as terrorism.”

Anarchists claiming to have been behind the attacks have branded their actions “class terror” in online posts. One blog, posted eight days after an arson attack on vehicles belonging to Tory councillors Kevin Quartley and Geoff Gollop, read: “This is the fire of the ghetto delivered to their door and a taste of what the right wing filth deserve. We can strike you any time we wish, class terror/FAI.”

In August 2013 a group called the Angry Foxes Cell claimed it had set fire to the £16m police firearms training centre at Portishead.

Other attacks have been claimed by the Earth Liberation Front. Leslie Pickering, who used to be a spokesperson for the group in the 1990s and who now lives in New York, told the BBC’s Inside Out West that the ELF could be responsible. He described members of the group as people “who care deeply and passionately about the environment and, at the same time, recognise that the mainstream ‘legitimate’ ways to work for social change or environmental justice aren’t having the effects they need to be having.”

Three years ago Bristol was the scene of prolonged rioting after 160 police officers raided a squat in the Stokes Croft area of the city, claiming that squatters were planning to firebomb a controversial new branch of Tesco.

Peaceful “No Tesco” protests over the potential impact of the store on local businesses were hijacked by violent activists and the area experienced three nights of violence, with 84 people being arrested.