Bristo Square: No one charged as police disperse large gathering in Edinburgh

A large group of people were dispersed by police from Bristo Square for the second time in two weeks.
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No one was charged as police attended the scene and the police have confirmed that they will only use enforcement as a last resort.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 10.35pm on Saturday, 28 November, officers in Edinburgh received a report of a gathering at Bristo Square.

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Police attended a gathering at Bristo Square on Saturday.Police attended a gathering at Bristo Square on Saturday.
Police attended a gathering at Bristo Square on Saturday.

“Officers attended and the group subsequently dispersed.

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“Our approach throughout the pandemic has been to engage with the public, explain the legislation and guidance, and encourage compliance, only using enforcement as a last resort.”

Police dealt with the similar incident on Saturday, November 14 around 9pm.

An eyewitness to this incident said: “The university security guard said this had become a regular occurrence and due to him being alone he couldn’t do anything.

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“Lots of young people smashing bottles, smoking weed and paying absolutely no attention to social distancing.

“There was also another security guard outside of Sainsbury’s trying to deal with a group. One of them was shouting within centimetres of his face.”

“Two parents came and dragged their daughter into a car also shouting at the police for allowing this to happen.”

The eyewitness continued saying that the pictures don’t show the full extent of the gathering, adding there was “over 100 people” there.

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Edinburgh is in tier three, which means that the maximum number of people who can meet outdoors is six, and can only be from two different households.

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