Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Police forced to deal with clowns scaring people in the street

Post Thumbnail

Police across the UK are tackling a new craze, involving people dressing up as clowns and trying to scare bystanders.

And, as the phenomenon escalates, officers have warned there is nothing funny about acts of intimidation.

The trend originally started in the United States, but it has spread to Britain and Thames Valley police were called to 14 incidents in the space of just 24 hours.

Closer to home, the former X Factor contestant, Joey Devries, claimed he was a victim of the trend in Aberdeen at the weekend.

He said on social media at 4pm on Saturday: “A clown attacked us as we were leaving the venue in Aberdeen – a little shaken up.”

Mr Devries, who appeared on the talent show in 2011 with the group Operation Generation, had been performing at the Tunnels.

He stated later: “It was scary. I had seen videos of clowns doing the rounds and I thought it was just exaggeration.

“I’d done a show and we came out and were packing up the car.

“I just saw this clown standing there. I thought I was seeing things.

“He started running at us with a baseball bat.

“We were shocked – I didn’t know if he was messing around but he was running at the car.”

In Inverness, police were called to incidents in Culduthel, Inshes and Milton of Leys, but none of the culprits was believed to be carrying a weapon.

Officers went to a school in the city on Friday in an attempt to put an end to the craze.

Superintendent David Duncan, of Police Scotland, warned that officers would take action against anyone intentionally causing distress.

He said: “We have had a few sporadic reports of individuals dressed as clowns in some areas in Scotland.

“It is assessed that there is a current trend of similar incidents on social media, many of which have been confirmed as hoaxes and emanate from overseas.

“The reports which have been made to local police officers are being investigated and do not specifically involve threats or violence.

“However, any person seeking to cause distress and potential harm to anyone should be aware police will take action.

“If anyone has any concerns they should report the matter to us.”