Youths on rampage after disco lock-out

Police were called to deal with the crowd left outside the under-18 disco at Revolution nightclub on Lothian Road at around 7pm last night when the club closed because it was full.

A window of McDonald’s restaurant on Princes Street was smashed, a bus was damaged and there were also unconfirmed reports of a girl being punched by a boy.

It was understood that drunken teenagers were still being taken home at 9pm and that parents worried for their children’s safety were calling emergency services to find out where they were.

A McDonald’s spokesman confirmed a window was smashed by the teenagers.

The restaurant closed early at 8.30pm because of the trouble, he said.

He added: "I was in contact with my manager who said there were teenagers on the rampage through Edinburgh so we closed early to avoid damage."

A large queue, which stretched to the Lyceum, quickly formed for the special night at Revolution, which was able to take 1000 youngsters for the event.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said today residents became concerned about the number of teenagers outside the club and called police. He said an estimated 1000 youths were left on the street when the club’s doors closed.

"There were more kids wanting to get in than the premises could take," he said.

"Police were used to manage the crowds and the kids that remained."

He said there was one report of damage to a bus around the nightclub. No youths were arrested or detained.

The spokesman said there were no problems once the disco finished later that evening at about 10.30pm. "The event passed off without incident," he said.

Ben Slarks, 18, said there was trouble outside McDonald’s restaurant in Princes Street. "There were hundreds of us that never got in. Luckily I have a car so I just drove about to keep out of the rain. "When we passed McDonald’s on Princes Street we saw one of the boys in McDonald’s who obviously worked there holding up a closed sign to a huge group of kids.

"They then started kicking the glass and it all started to crack.

"A blue riot van then turned up. There was so many people it was like at New Year just before the bells in Princes Street."

"I saw a boy punch a girl in the face twice outside the front doors of the club, her nose was bleeding. It was about 8pm."

A concerned parent of a 14-year-old girl said she was concerned to see the rowdy scenes when she came to pick up her daughter at 10.30pm.

"This is the second one she has been to but I don’t think I’ll be sending her again. She got in because she queued from 6pm.

"She was an hour and a half early."

Peter Stewart, 16, from East Calder, said his friends and himself were really annoyed they’d come all the way through to be turned away.

"The police were stopping us hanging around the club so we went to McDonald’s. The police wouldn’t let us in there so we went to Burger King but the police wouldn’t let us in there.

The event which was called Club Culture at the Revolution venue cost 4 with special flyers and 7 without.

No one at Revolution was available for comment today.