Blaze rips through building in Edinburgh city centre as fire crews battle inferno

Daily Record

2 days ago

Emergency services were called to Jeffrey Street after the alarm was first raised shortly before 11.10am on Saturday.
A fire has ripped through a building in Edinburgh city centre this afternoon.
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Emergency services were called to Jeffrey Street after the alarm was first raised shortly before 11.10am on Saturday, July 27. Footage captured from the scene showed the blaze tearing through a building on the street.
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A cordon could be seen to be erected in the area while firefighters tackled the inferno. Residents in the capital were urged to keep their windows and doors closed while emergency crews dealt with the incident.
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Four appliances and one height appliance were sent to the scene and images showed smoke billowing into the sky. No casualties have been reported and fire crews remain in attendance.
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A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "We were made aware at 11.09am on Saturday, July 26, to reports of a dwelling fire at Jeffrey Street.
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"We have four appliances and a height appliance at the scene. There are no reports of any casualties. We are currently still in attendance."
The fire broke out just around a mile from where protests against Donald Trump are taking place in the capital this afternoon.
A wave of demonstrations have been organised with many angry at the arrival of the president, who touched down at Prestwick Airport on Friday evening.
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The Stop Trump Coalition confirmed earlier this week that they were planning events in Aberdeen in the city centre and outside the US consulate in Edinburgh on Saturday at midday.
Pictures taken this afternoon show hundreds of protests holding placards in the capital.
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Outside the US consulate people held up orange signs displaying the message "Stop Trump, Free Gaza". Others held handmade signs above their head with messages such as "Scotland hates Trump" and "No to trump".
In Aberdeen a number of Palestine flags were seen being waved during the demonstration as protesters gathered at the Union Terrace Gardens.
Others at the protests decided to poke fun at the president with signs saying "Get oot nasty little man baby" and "Keep orange in a can and out of the White House".
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Activists say they are taking to the streets upon Trump's arrival to express 'widespread anger' over the president's policies.
Connor Dylan, the organiser of the anti-Trump protests in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, told the Guardian: 'The vast majority of people in Scotland were already opposed to everything Trump stood for when he first visited as president.
"As we've learned more and more about him and the way he governs, that attitude has only hardened.
'His politics – and those of the people around him – have only become more extreme since then, with once fringe ideas like mass deportations now part of mainstream American politics and being effectively exported to the UK and other European countries by far-right allies.'