What went so right on Bonfire Night?
How months of work culminated in one of the city's quietest 5 Novembers in years
This year, the bonfire night and Halloween period was, thankfully, quieter than the two previous years. In fact, the level of violence and antisocial behaviour has decreased year on year since the alarming scenes of 2023. This year, across Scotland, the number of Police callouts was 37% lower than last year and to date only two minor injuries of police officers have been recorded (62 were injured in 2023, and 1 in 2024).
“The overall sense is that this has been a much more peaceful and safe Bonfire Night period in comparison to the last few previous years.” said Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs, Gold Commander for Operation Moonbeam on 6 November.
The nights weren’t free from trouble; while nothing more than “minor anti-social behaviour” was reported between 31 October and 4 November, on November 5th police used their dispersal powers 25 times and carried out 34 stop and searches. Lothian Buses diverted the 21 bus route from Calder Road and Broomhouse. Young people were seen throwing fireworks at each other in Calder Road and Sighthill Park areas; although they dispersed when police arrived. Some small fires were set around Bingham Medway in Niddrie. But that was it; no damaged vehicles, no injured emergency workers, no attacks on emergency services in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh seems to have fared slightly better than other areas, too. In Glasgow police and fire brigade were targeted on one street, with a police car so damaged it had to be collected from the scene later. The fire brigade was also attacked in Blackridge, West Lothian. SFRS have said they were called out more than 700 times and attended 250 bonfires during an 8 hour period on the 5th November. “While it’s clear our preparatory work with our partners and communities contributed towards a reduction in fire-related antisocial behaviour, put simply, one attack on our staff is one too many.” said Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Garry Mackay.
We’re not out of the woods yet with this established trend in fireworks-related antisocial behaviour. But it does seem like things have moved in a positive direction. So what was the key to this improvement? During the last two weeks we have seen enormous short-term measures to prevent violence; but in reality the work, from police and community organisations, began long before.
A long and multi-faceted approach
A whole raft of measures were put in place this year to try to prevent antisocial behaviour on Halloween and Bonfire Night. The most visible were 9 firework control zones (an increase from 4 last year) and 14 police dispersal zones, where Police had increased powers to disperse crowds. A record number of police, as well as extra fire and rescue service staff were on duty, with police wearing bodycams for the first time, and a police helicopter circling the centres of the worst violence in the past. Public figures from Edinburgh’s council leader to the First Minister made statements urging the public to enjoy the celebrations responsibly.
In previous months, though, plenty more has been going on. From the criminal justice side, Police Scotland have pursued investigations into those responsible for violence last year, as well as seizing multiple hordes of fireworks which they believed were destined for Edinburgh. After pressure from local MPs, many major supermarkets and all but two firework retailers in Edinburgh ditched firework sales this year (some requiring more pressure than others).
The Council worked on clearing fly-tipping spots to remove potential fuel for bonfires, as well as providing funding for “alternative activities” for young people. Citadel Youth Centre in Leith hosted 52 young people on 5 November, and on Friday 7th staff took 14 young people on a night-time drive and bonfire from 5pm right through to 3am; on the condition they’ve not been involved in antisocial behaviour over the previous week.
Community-based prevention
“What has been most evident during our delivery of Operation Moonbeam, however, is the importance of community policing throughout all stages. I’ve been delighted to see how local officers across Scotland have worked tirelessly alongside key partners in education, youth services and third sector to identify potential causes for community tensions and collaborate on new ways to address these before they culminate in disorder.” said Mairs.
While school visits are a longstanding strategy ahead of bonfire night, the community-level approach was significantly expanded this year. A youth conference was organised in September welcoming 160 young people from across Edinburgh to learn about the impact of firework misuse, from medics, firefighters, Edinburgh zoo and police, and to share their insights into the drivers of antisocial behaviour on bonfire night. They particularly highlighted the problems of peer pressure and of adults selling fireworks to under 18s.
Claire O’Brien, who works with older teens at the Citadel Youth Centre, explained that social media is a huge driver of antisocial behaviour among the young people she works with. “It’s deeply connected to social media, I would say, particularly Snapchat. At the moment, it’s a competition to who can [make] the biggest disturbance. Who can get the most likes?” she says. She also explains that young people use Snapchat to buy fireworks illegally.
The very fact that O’Brien is privy to this information points to another vital long-term strategy; in order to convince young people to hang out with her on bonfire night and Halloween, O’Brien and her colleagues have to spend months, even years, building trust with young people. “They’ve got that respect and relationship with myself, like many other organizations will have across the city. But without that, they’re not buying into it,” she says.
While the Citadel received funding from the council for bonfire night activities, their grant from the council has been cut by nearly 75% in the last three years. “It drives me insane that they think we can just get a couple of pennies and then, a week before Halloween or Bonfire Night, round up all the naughty boys and girls,” added Willy Barr, who joined O’Brien in taking kids on their Friday night bonfire trip.
Police Scotland, too, have warned that without increased regular funding their services will have to roll back. Police Scotland have told Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee that without an increase of £104.9 million in spending, the force will have to make cuts to preserve the same level of service in 2026-27. This would inevitably impact response times to emergency calls, patrols, and the force’s ability to police large public events.
Wouldn’t an outright ban just fix it?
Earlier in the year, City councillors considered covering the entire city in a temporary Firework Control Zone. In Ireland, fireworks are only sold to licensed event organisers; the Scottish Government has recently paused plans to introduce a similar licensing scheme in Scotland, saying that the implementation would be far too costly and difficult. Animal welfare organisations have been among those who continue to call for an outright ban on the public sale of fireworks, and this would undoubtedly reduce the risk to pets and animals in the area.
But few are convinced that this would help to reduce antisocial behaviour. Christine Jardine, MP for West Edinburgh (including Edinburgh Zoo), said: “I don’t think a ban on the public sale of fireworks is the answer to the problem of anti-social behaviour. We need to look at why members of the public are driven to anti-social behaviour and work collaboratively to address those rather than banning something which could push the sale underground and exacerbate the problem further.”
O’Brien also points to the potential unfairness of this approach; whereas in the past her organisations always received free tickets for public fireworks displays, the number of displays, and the number of subsidised tickets, has dramatically reduced. Citadel had sourced 70 tickets for the planned Fawkes event at the Highland Showground which was cancelled at the last minute. “If they put a blanket ban on fireworks and don’t let people do their own thing, then they need to put more funding into organised events,” said O’Brien.
Indeed firework related crimes in Ireland showed a significant decrease, not after licensing was introduced, but after more resourcing were put into enforcement.
The danger of complacence
O’Brien’s concern is that the relative success of bonfire night this year will be credited completely to short-term measures like firework control zones and temporary increases in resources for police and youth work organisations. Without a doubt, she says, these measures made a huge difference in preventing violence and antisocial behaviour.
But the longer term solutions; tracking down and prosecuting those involved in antisocial behaviour, intelligence work to seize fireworks before they make it into the hands of young people; months of building relationships through youth work and community policing; all played a pivotal role too. And these require more than a funding boost every November.
The Citadel has fought hard to maintain the level of service it provided before its funding was cut, by seeking out other funding and using reserves. But there is a real risk that without more sustained, regular funding, they will have to make tough decisions about the help they are able to provide.
Things are improving in Edinburgh, but they are far from fixed. The key now is to ensure long-term support for the services which are keeping communities safe on Bonfire Night, to protect against an upsurge in antisocial behaviour in the coming years.