Thirteen people were charged following disruption caused in Edinburgh city centre on Monday yesterday.
Officers had been facilitating peaceful protest at the Scottish Parliament, which began on Sunday 16th June, and is due to finish on Thursday 20th June.
At around 4pm on Monday individuals connected to the demonstration set up a road block on Lothian Road, which significantly impacted upon traffic. Similar attempts were made to establish road blocks in North Bridge and George IV Bridge, but a quick response by police in attendance prevented this.
Officers made continued attempts to engage with demonstrators at Lothian Road and agree a voluntary departure from the area. However, when these individuals opted not to leave, an appropriate plan was put in place to safely remove them and restore normal traffic flow.
The six men from the Lothian Road blockade; aged 46, 57, 53, 19, 68 and 25; were arrested along with two men aged 32 and 49 and five women aged 61, 18, 41, 57 and 37, following other disruption activity in the Capital.
The demonstration at Scottish Parliament is due to continue for another two days and addition to liaison with City of Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Parliament, police will be engaging directly with the protesters to make it clear any activity, which results in disorder or mass disruption to the city will not be tolerated.
Chief Superintendent Matt Richards from Police Scotland said: “First and foremost I want to thank the communities of Edinburgh for their patience and co-operation while we dealt with the events that took place within the city centre on Monday afternoon and into the evening.
“Our number one priority is, and always will be, public safety and we took all the necessary steps to remove demonstrators without risking injury to them, our officers or others in the area.
“While we fully support the right to peaceful demonstration, any action which puts members of the public at risk of injury, or has an impact on the city’s infrastructure, is unacceptable.
“We have outlined our stance to the protesters and remain in dialogue with them, while at the same time we continue to plan for any further activity that may occur over the coming days.”
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.
