Fireworks and bricks thrown at police as Scottish officers deal with Bonfire Night 'youth disorder'

Incidents of serious disorder on Bonfire Night have fallen across Scotland, according to police figures.

Police Scotland said they responded to 18 incidents on Tuesday evening as part of Operation Moonbeam, compared with 26 during the same period in 2023.

Drone footage of riots in the Niddrie area of Edinburgh on November 5 last year | PA

One officer, who was injured when a brick was thrown through the window of her vehicle in Edinburgh on Halloween, was hurt during the operation, which ran throughout October and November. During the same period in 2023, 62 officers were injured by fireworks and other projectiles.

One person has been arrested and charged in relation to the Edinburgh incident.

Police said they had responded to “youth disorder” in the Niddrie, Sighthill and Moredun areas of Edinburgh on Tuesday night.

Two fire service appliances were attacked during the incidents with police vehicles and other cars targeted by groups throwing fireworks, bottles and bricks, Police Scotland said in a statement. No injuries were reported during the disturbances.

Lothian Buses earlier announced it had taken the “difficult, but necessary decision” to withdraw all services from the Niddrie area until the end of the evening.

Four incidents of attacks on fire appliances responding to calls were reported in Glasgow with no injuries reported. Earlier, officers in Glasgow recovered a “significant quantity” of fireworks from a van in the Drumpchapel area.

In a statement posted on social media, police said the fireworks were being “sold to the general public, including children” and they had been seized.

They added that a report would be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, and that Trading Standards have been notified.

In Peterhead, police said a 33-year-old man was hit by a van after a pyrotechnic device was ignited in a skate park in Aalesund Road. The man did not require further medical attention after being treated by paramedics with inquiries to identify the suspects ongoing.

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs, the gold commander for Operation Moonbeam which is aimed at supporting local police in tackling fireworks-related offences, praised emergency service workers.

“Their actions ensured that some of the challenging scenes we witnessed this year did not escalate into mass disorder, on the scale of what we experienced last year,” he said.

“Nevertheless, the levels of violence and aggression police officers, fire service and ambulance service personnel faced in some areas was wholly unacceptable and a significant investigative response is now underway to identify each and every one of those involved and bring them to justice.”