From BBC Scotland today, the above and:
Seven people were arrested and a police van was set alight during Bonfire Night violence in parts of Scotland. A police officer and an ambulance staff member also suffered minor injuries when they were attacked with fireworks while responding to a report of an injured man in Glasgow.
The police vehicle was seriously damaged during the incident in Greenside Street, in the Provanmill area of the city, and a 16-year-old boy was arrested. Police and members of the public were also targeted with fireworks in several areas of Edinburgh. Fire service personnel also came under attack in a number of towns while responding to calls.
No firefighters were hurt and no serious damage was caused to fire engines.
but 13 paragraphs later:
Between 31 October and 5 November, a total of 1,024 fireworks-related calls were received. This is an increase from the 833 calls received in 2025, however there was a reduction in the number of incidents requiring a specialist public order response.
“While we have seen a rise in the overall number of calls relating to fireworks incidents between Halloween and Bonfire Night 2026, when compared to last year, I am encouraged by the reduction in serious incidents requiring us to mobilise specialist resources during this time,” Robertson said.
“It’s been heartening to see the positive level of community engagement and in many instances this has led to vital intelligence, which helped seize significant quantities of fireworks before they could be used for criminal activity and to disrupt the activities of those planning to involve themselves in disorder.”
The scale of the reduction in serious incidents does not appear to have been published.
Police officer injuries over the last five years present a sequence of 62 in 2023, then 1, 0, 0 and then 1 ‘sustaining minor injuries’ :
I’m by no means excusing any of this but BBC Scotland has a duty to inform. That means balanced, informative, intelligent writing and not this carefully structured scare story delaying the positive until, as we know, many readers have given up.
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Anent increases in the number of incidents reported to the police: we have discussed the use of fireworks on a number of occasions at our community council meetings. These are always attended by City Councillors and the Police. The Police explained that they use the number of reports being received as part of the data they use to decide on local policing priorities. So they and Councillors have been encouraging local people to report such matters. In a number of cases because of availability of officers at the time – for example, last night, Celtic v Besiktas as well as Guy Fawkes night required a substantial deployment – not all reports will be attended to. Of course, if something is judged serious and requiring immediate attention it will be given. But, by reporting, a database is built up. And such information guides deployment decisions.
It is a sensible approach, but the data are misused by the media to create shock-horror-blame.
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