Five men have been arrested and charged following football related disorder during the SPFL play-off match in Edinburgh earlier this year.
The game between Hibernian and Hamilton Academical took place at Easter Road Stadium on Sunday 25th May, with thousands in attendance at the venue and in many of the city’s bars and licensed premises.
A significant police operation was in place to during match day and officers quickly responded to reports of a large disturbance on London Road at full-time.
Several people believed to be involved in the incident were not traced at the time and a joint investigation between their national Football Coordination Unit (FoCUS) and Edinburgh’s Divisional Violence Reduction Unit was launched.
As a result of police action carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday, the males aged 17, 20, 27, 32 and 46 were detained in the Seafield, Leith, Tollcross, Gorgie and Slateford of Edinburgh and have all been charged with a breach of the peace.
All of the men will appear in court at a later date.
Police continue to follow a positive line of enquiry in relation others connected with this disturbance.
Inspector Stevie Sutherland who leads the Divisional Violence Reduction Unit in Edinburgh said: “This end of season match was watched by over 18,000 supporters and on the whole the behaviour before and during the match exemplary.
“However, following the match a small minority became involved in disorder at the top of Easter Road at the junction with London Road causing fear and alarm to other members of the public.
“These actions were totally unacceptable and as a result of joint enforcement activity undertaken by officers from these two specialised Police units, several arrests have now been made.
“Police Scotland is committed to tackling violence, disorder and anti-social behaviour associated with football.
“We will seek Football Banning Orders in each case, and wish to send a clear message that disorder of any form will not be tolerated and anyone found to be responsible for offences of this nature will be robustly dealt with”.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
