Edinburgh City Council is considering enacting a city-wide fireworks ban for the upcoming 2025 Bonfire Night following intense disorder during the 2024 Bonfire Night.
Such disorder occurred mainly around the Niddrie area, where police officers were attacked with bricks, bottles, and fireworks,
The launch of the consultation required to consider the ban has been delayed. Green councillor Dan Heap requested the delay because he believed it would give Scottish ministers time to decide on the ban.
This is because fireworks control zone legislation has never been pushed to this degree. Many proponents of the one-night ban are wary of ministerial pushback.
Just last year, fireworks control zones were enacted. While only targeting specific areas of the city, these measures saw an 80 per cent to 90 per cent decrease in fireworks set off on Carlton Hill.
Responding to the idea of a temporary fireworks ban, one second-year student said, “I can see why they are considering a ban. But I also feel like if you ban fireworks, people will find something else to [hurt] each other with.”
Another second-year student emphasised he “wouldn’t want to see them banned.” This student remembers, “It’s fun doing them in your backyard.”
Instead of a ban that would be put into effect for all fireworks usage, he would “like to see a curfew on them, say after 10 or 11 pm.”
Bonfire Night is a popular event for many students; thus, some are reluctant to support the ban on fireworks.
“Midnight Fireworks, Edinburgh Hogmanay 2010” by Graeme Pow is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.