Social media users claim that a violent protest against new police laws was presented in Britain because two police vehicles were depicted at the scene with the same number plate. This is wrong.
Examples of posts sharing the claim can be seen (here, here, here) and (here).
On March 21, thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Bristol, ignoring COVID-19 restrictions, to protest a government bill passing through parliament that would give police new powers to curb street protests (here).
The protest began peacefully but was later turned into a violent disorder by a small minority, local forces, Avon and Somerset police said.
On social media, users claimed that two police vehicles had the same number plate at the time of the protest – and that this registration number was linked to a vehicle with a dilapidated MOT.
“This demonstration is a staged event to give the police stricter powers to close because they know that the people can no longer tolerate the lies,” wrote one user (here).
The report compares a photo of a burnt out police car with the number plate ‘WX17 FHR’ with an image of a police van with a partially visible plate. The first letters of the van’s registration number are ‘WX17 F’.
It also points to a government website that shows that the vehicle registered as ‘WX17 FHR’ has a dilapidated car.
But this is not proof that the protest was staged.
First, police vehicles maintained in an approved workshop were exempted from MOTs (here).
Secondly, the number plates of the two vehicles are not the same. As the footage of the scene shows, the full registration number of the box is ‘WX17 FKY’ (here) (Timecode – 1:56:17).
VERDICT
Untrue. The two vehicles have different registration numbers. Police vehicles maintained in an approved workshop are exempt from MOTs.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.