Six police were injured, one of them seriously, in disturbances at a street party apparently celebrating the death of ex-prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the English city of Bristol, police said Tuesday.
About 200 revellers refused police requests to disperse and threw bottles and cans at officers, said Chief Inspector Mark Jackson of Avon and Somerset Constabulary.
One of the officers remains in hospital with an injury that is “not life-threatening, but it is serious,” a spokeswoman for the force said.
One person was arrested for violent disorder during the event in the early hours of Tuesday in the deprived inner-city area of Easton.
Firefighters were called after fires were lit in rubbish bins, police said.
They added that the party was understood to be a celebration of Thatcher’s death, but that investigations were continuing.
Thatcher, the controversial “Iron Lady” who dominated a generation of British politics and won international acclaim for helping to end the Cold War, died on Monday aged 87 following a stroke.
Her death prompted tributes from world leaders and figures from her own era such as former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
But responses were colder from her traditional foes, including trade unions, Irish republicans and coal miners, while fierce debate continued over the legacy of her uncompromising liberalisation of the British economy.
Street parties were also held in Glasgow in Scotland and in the south London neighbourhood of Brixton, where about 200 people toasted her passing with hip-hop and reggae songs and placards saying “Rejoice — Thatcher is dead”.
Six UK police hurt, one seriously, at 'Thatcher party'
