‘I’m guessing we’ll have a spike of delta variant in Scotland soon’: Scots react with fury after 20,000 Tartan Army fans partied in London before Euros clash with England
- Leicester Square was packed with Scotland fans jubilantly singing and chanting
- Crowded scenes have sparked concern amongst Scots over the Delta variant
- One wrote: ‘Guessing we’ll have spike of Delta variant in areas of Scotland soon’
- A total of 30 people were arrested in central London in the Euros clash last night
Scots have reacted with fury after 20,000 Tartan Army fans partied in London‘s West End before the Euros clash with England last night.
Pictures captured Leicester Square packed with Scotland fans jubilantly singing, chanting and letting off flares ahead of the game.
Before the end of the match, police cleared fans out of the area and sealed off the five entrances, wary of any potential flare-ups between supporters.
Squads of police in fluorescent yellow jackets even formed a human barrier to stop any fan from entering, while the William Shakespeare statue – which was scaled throughout the day – was also sealed off.
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King’s College epidemiologist Professor Tim Spector recently said that ‘worrying areas with a high number of Covid cases like Scotland and the North West are starting to level off’.
But the crowded scenes have sparked renewed concern amongst Scots, with one person saying: ‘I’m guessing we’ll have a spike of the Delta variant in areas of Scotland soon.’
It follows surge testing being rolled out across parts of south London amid a rise in cases of the more infectious Delta variant.
Pictures captured Leicester Square packed with Scotland fans jubilantly singing, chanting and letting off flares after the England v Scotland game ended in a 0-0 draw last night
The crowded scenes have sparked renewed concern amongst Scots, with one person saying: ‘I’m guessing we’ll have a spike of the Delta variant in areas of Scotland soon’
One social media user wrote: ‘My concern is the travelling fans taking the Delta variant back to Scotland and destroying everything that has been done so far.’
Another person said: ‘I’m guessing we’ll have a spike of the Delta variant in areas of Scotland soon as a shower of morons head to London and jam pack themselves into Leicester Square.
‘Selfish idiots just for a game of kickball.’
A third added: ‘These f***ers are going to bring Covid back up to Scotland with them, watch us go into lockdown again!!!’
Another Scottish person tweeted to Sturgeon: ‘Where’s your condemnation of Scotland fans gathering in their thousands, no masks, no social distancing, in the middle of a pandemic?
‘They’ll be bringing back a wave of Covid when they return.’
While Leicester Square was cleared before the match finished, more than 1,000 fans poured back into to the area from pubs in central London later in the night. Police eventually took the decision to allow them back inside the cordon.
Today, workers will have to clean up the mess from the night before, with the area described by some on social media this morning as looking ‘like a war zone’.
Fans chanted after the famous result which leaves Scotland with a glimmer of hope of qualification if they win their final group game
Scotland fans let off flares in Leicester Square last night after the England v Scotland game ended in a 0-0 draw on Friday at Wembley Stadium
Scotland fans clambered over a statue of William Shakespeare last night during their celebrations of the draw while one supporter wears a cone on his head
Thousands of empty beer cans and bottles were left strewn over pavements, along with bags of rubbish and traffic cones lodged in mud thickened by yesterday’s torrential rain.
A total of 30 people were arrested in central London as part of the policing operation for the Euros clash, Met Police said.
The force added 25 of the arrests were in central London while five people were arrested in the vicinity of Wembley.
Scotland Yard said in a tweet today: ’13 arrests were for public order offences, six for drunk and disorderly, four for assault on police, three for assault, two related to Class A drugs and one each for breaching a dispersal order and breaching a banning order.’
Leicester Square fell within a dispersal area giving police powers to move people out. One police officer said last night: ‘No fans are being allowed to congregate here for the rest of the night.’
