Seven arrested during EDL rally (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Seven arrested during EDL rally

5:05pm Saturday 14th July 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Seven protesters have been arrested as two major demonstrations took place in Bristol city centre.

Riot police made the arrests as up to 300 English Defence League (EDL) demonstrators marched through the city in a high-profile rally.

Clashes between the police and EDL protesters took place as missiles were thrown and paper inside wheelie bins was set on fire.

"We are responding to missiles being thrown. We are working to calm things down," the official Avon and Somerset Police Twitter feed reported.

Earlier, demonstrators walked through rainswept streets to Queen Square where EDL leaders made speeches to their supporters.

Violence broke out after the EDL rally at the square had finished, while up to 500 anti-EDL protesters with the We Are Bristol campaign marched in the city in a counter demonstration.

Protesters chanted and carried placards, one of which read: "If you can read this you shouldn't be in the EDL."

But the routes of both marches were pre-planned to ensure that both sides were kept apart.

"A 44-year-old man arrested for assaulting a police officer. This brings the total number of arrests to seven," the official Twitter feed added.

Earlier arrests reported during the day have included two for failing to remove masks, one for a racially aggravated public order offence and one for unlawful assembly. A 24-year-old man was also taken into custody after he was found at what police described as "on enclosed premises".