Teen launched missiles at officers and smashed police car during Bonfire Night riot

A teenager who was part of a masked gang that attacked police officers during a Bonfire Night riot in Edinburgh is facing a jail sentence.

Finlay Burns launched rockets and missiles at police lines and smashed up an unmarked police vehicle during a night of violence in the capital on November 5, 2024.

Burns handed out the explosives to younger members of the gang and incited them to attack officers who had attended the disorder in the Gracemount area of the city.

The 19-year-old was recorded on CCTV taking part in the rioting and was identified by officers due to his clothing and arrested four weeks later on December 2, 2024.

Burns pleaded guilty to charges of mobbing and rioting and culpable and reckless conduct to the danger of life when he appeared on indictment at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday.

The offences were prosecuted under Section 44 of the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 and aggravated by the use of a firework in relation to an emergency worker.

The large-scale disturbance was just one of many violent incidents that broke out across the city, forcing Police Scotland to deploy riot officers and a helicopter as part of Operation Crackle.

The incidents in areas including Gilmerton, Gracemount and Niddrie also saw the fire service come under attack and Lothian Buses forced to withdraw services after public transport vehicles were pelted with fireworks and bricks.

Prosecutor Emma Laing played several pieces of footage of the mass disorder to the court that showed a masked group of around 50 youths launching fireworks, rocks and bottles at police officers.

Riot police were deployed and could be seen lined up behind plastic shields across the capital’s Captain’s Road in a bid to stop the violence.

In the footage, a police helicopter could be heard circling overhead as officers were bombarded with missiles, including rocks, bottles and exploding fireworks, thrown by the large group, including Burns.

A separate clip showed the mob moving up Gracemount Road and surrounding and attacking an unmarked police vehicle that was parked at the side of the road.

Burns, of Southhouse, Edinburgh, was identified as a member of the group who jumped on, kicked, shook and smashed all the windows of the vehicle.

A third piece of footage saw three police vans coming under attack by the gang, who threw fireworks at the vehicles as they travelled along Captain’s Road.

Sheriff Gillian Sharp said due to the “extremely serious nature of the offences” she was deferring sentence to next month for the preparation of reports and agreed to continue bail in the meantime.

Burns pleaded guilty to forming part of a mob of evilly disposed persons which conducted itself in a violent, riotous and tumultuous manner to the great terror and alarm of lieges and did, with faces masked, form part of a larger group and advance towards emergency services cordons in a threatening manner in Gracemount, Edinburgh, on November 5, 2024.

He incited others, threw fireworks and projectiles, including rocks and bottles, at police officers and vehicles, distributed fireworks to younger persons, directed them to throw fireworks, pull wipers off, smash windows, kick and shake and smash the windscreen of an unmarked police vehicle.

Burns also admitted to culpably and recklessly brandishing fireworks at police officers and firing lit fireworks at police vehicles occupied by police officers, causing fireworks to strike the vehicles, all to the danger of life.