Police to use stop and search powers to tackle Bonfire Night disorder in Edinburgh

Police will use stop and search powers in certain areas of Edinburgh in a bid to intercept planned disorder on Bonfire Night.

The force warned those suspected of planning firework-related anti-social behaviour in the Gracemount, Moredun and Niddrie areas would be searched after receiving “intelligence” of potential trouble.

It comes after a police officer was injured, riot police were targeted with bricks and buses were pelted by pyrotechnics and badly damaged during incidents in Niddrie on Halloween night.

Control zones banning the use of fireworks in certain areas of the city are in place until 10 November for the first time.

Officers are allowed to search those they believe to be under “reasonable suspicion” of committing a crime, planning to commit a crime or in possession of a “prohibited article” under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Police seized a “quantity of fireworks” and two cans of petrol following a raid on a property in Magdalene last Thursday.

However, one police officer was taken to hospital when the window of a police vehicle she was sitting in was shattered in the Hay Avenue area.

Lothian Buses was forced to withdraw services after 16 of its vehicles were damaged and an open-top bus carrying young people with disabilities was targeted outside the city’s Dynamic Earth attraction.

Police also responded to incidents at Moredunvale Road, Southhouse Road, Captain's Road and West Pilton Park on 31 October.

On Bonfire Night last year, about 100 young people clashed with riot police with fireworks and petrol bombs being thrown directly at officers, while there were similar incidents in Sighthill and Southhouse.

The Scottish government gave local authorities new powers to designate ‘firework control zones’ (FCZs) in 2022 following a major riot in Dundee.

City of Edinburgh Council became the first in Scotland to vote for implementing the FCZ in August.

The measures run from 1 to 10 November and anyone setting off a private firework during this period will be committing a criminal offence.