1980 St. Pauls riot the "Western Daily Press". 16 of those arrested were prosecuted for riot, but all were either acquitted, had the charges dropped or were discharged after the jury failed to reach a verdict. Copycat riots in Southmead, a predominately white working-class council estate, occurred soon after the St Pauls disturbance. Later commentators suggested that poverty and the sus laws were more important causes of the riots than race. The House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee held a session in Bristol and Home Secretary William Whitelaw came to the city to hold meetings with the local authorities and representatives of the
Bristol riots 120 policemen, and Park Street was closed off with buses. In subsequent confrontation, an MP was stabbed, a black GI was shot dead, and several others were wounded. The St Pauls riot started on 2 April 1980 in the St Pauls district, when the police carried out a raid on the Black and White Café, later known as "Britain's most dangerous hard drug den", located on Grosvenor Road in the heart of St Pauls. It is unclear why the riot started either due to the police ripping a customer's trousers and refusing to pay, or they were simply attacked as