Campaign against Violence Day – Works on McDonald Road – Pandas – Paolozzi Prize – A plea from the Moderator
Police in Edinburgh were taking part in the National Campaign against Violence day last Friday and our photograph shows a group of officers on their way to arrest a man in West Edinburgh who was suspected of football hooliganism at the Hibs v Hearts match on 3 January 2013. That match started just before 8:00pm in the evening, and evidence from CCTV and witnesses had allowed the police to identify those involved.
The man was eventually arrested and removed to a police van after the officers knocked at his front door and kept a watchful eye on any other possible escape routes. At the same time however, his wife who objected first of all to the police knocking on her door unexpectedly at around lunchtime. We heard shouts of “You need a warrant to come in here, where’s your warrant?” and we were a little distance away from the ground floor flat.
A small group of onlookers had gathered by the time she raised her voice even more, by then objecting to the press presence outside her house, and she was vocal enough to be charged with a breach of the peace. She was removed from her house in a separate car. All of those arrested on Friday were taken initially to St Leonard’s Police Station where there are around 50 cells.
It will have taken till today for all of those arrested in Friday’s police action day to be brought to the Sheriff Court in Edinburgh. It was seen as a positive advantage that some of those arrested who might have been involved in football violence were taken into custody the day before another big match involving Hibs.
One essential aspect of the policing being carried out on Friday was that senior officers were involved in front line policing. The Reporter was accompanying Chief Inspector Mark Patterson who admitted he was not usually out walking the street, although he is present at large demos etc. But Patterson said:-“This is what I joined the police for. It gives me a good chance to find out what the normal job entails and allows us to increase our public presence all at the same time.
“Having this first national Campaign against Violence day on a Friday poses some challenges, but we have additional custody staff on duty to process all of those who will be arrested today, and of course there are additional custody centres we can use right across Scotland.”
The police were using a mix of marked and unmarked police cars. There were four teams out across the city, each one with a female officer and a local officer. Patterson continued:-“It is useful to split the officers up. Other CAV days may have a mix of plain clothes officers too depending on what is required. There was a lot of violence, including assaults and disorders in Dalry Road before the Derby match on 3 January and we are targetting seven addresses today. There are an additional 63 officers out in Edinburgh today. There are 24 officers from the national alcohol and violence reduction unit. Out of the balance 17 are usually back office staff in Edinburgh – superintendents, chief inspectors and the like. They will supplement our normal front line officers.
There are other teams out in Drylaw and St Leonard’s areas today too. The intention is that all 7 addresses are targetted at the same time. The focus for us today is very much those who have already committed violent crimes or those who might. It is all to do with the Police Scotland Keeping People Safe.”
Earlier the officers had been briefed at Wester Hailes Police Station and shown photographs of those they were out to apprehend. The location was chosen as that station has responsibility for Tynecastle Stadium where the offences had been committed.
As we sat in the car waiting for the other officers to arrive news came through of someone in East Lothian who had undertaken to show up at St Leonard’s. Whether they did or not, the police knew who they were after across Edinburgh on Friday and had made four arrests by Friday evening.
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The work required to be carried out at the McDonald Road junction with Leith Walk will involve the temporary closure to through traffic to McDonald Road along with a partial northbound bus lane closure around the location of the junction itself. The temporary closure will be from Wednesday 17 April for up to two weeks. Traffic diversions will be in operation and the alternative access routes to the street will be via Pilrig Street, Annandale Street and/or Broughton Road.
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SSSSSHHHHHH! If you live in Corstorphine then stop making any noise. You might put the pandas off….. The latest news this evening is this:-
“Tian Tian our female giant panda chose to sleep a lot of this afternoon so we let her do what her body was telling her it needed. She woke late afternoon and we could see by behavioural analysis that she still had not yet reached peak. Her hormone results also backed this up. RZSS experts and our international colleagues will be regrouping early tomorrow morning where another enclosure swap will take place – Tian Tian will go into Yang Guang’s outdoor enclosure and vice versa.
This will give us the perfect opportunity to again monitor what stage Tian Tian has then reached. We hope she will continue to progress overnight and fully hit peak tomorrow morning.”
Watch this space.
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The first ever Paolozzi Art Prize has been awarded this evening at the National Gallery of Art, and the overall winner was announced as Lorna Serle. We will have photos and a short video soon!
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The Moderator of the General Assembly has lost some important pieces of jewellery owned by the Church and The Edinburgh Reporter interviewed him on video today to find out how you might be able to help.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
