Protests in the Stokes Croft area of the city over the siting of a Tesco Express mini-supermarket erupted in violence last week. The latest clashes followed a protest over the way police handled last week’s demonstrations.

Police said protesters donned masks and began pelting police as a splinter group broke away and headed toward the city center in the early hours of Friday.

“It is very disappointing that a number of them were clearly intent on inciting trouble and committing criminal acts of disorder,” Assistant Chief Constable Rod Hansen said.

“This included breaking down residential walls and removing roof tiles to use as missiles, lighting fires, setting up barricades in the road and daubing graffiti throughout the area,” he added.

“We took swift and robust action to try to prevent further violence and damage to property.”

Police said they had raided a property in the area on Friday and had evicted a group of squatters. They said 20 people had been arrested during the protest and 13 more during the eviction of the squatters, including three who had climbed on to a roof.

The supermarket chain condemned the violence, noting its store had been closed since last week’s clashes.

“Last night’s violence in Stokes Croft and beyond underlines that this is not an anti-Tesco protest, our store is not even open,” it added.

Nine people were arrested last week after fighting following a police raid on a squat opposite the store. Some locals are unhappy about the world’s third largest retailer moving in, preferring smaller independent stores.

The violence was not linked to the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday, which dominated the headlines in Britain.

Bristol is the largest city in southwest England. It is relatively prosperous and has a large university population and a thriving cultural scene which produced graffiti artist Banksy.

The city experienced riots in the early 1980s when youths clashed with police and again in 1992 when youngsters on a deprived housing estate went on the rampage.