[1] The site was chosen because St. Andrews Square is the historic centre of the Edinburgh's financial sector and location of the head branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which was partly nationalised in 2008 following its role in the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Journalist Peter Geoghegan visited St. Andrews Square on the second day of its occupation and described the participants: A large number of the 200-odd people on St Andrew's Square were old stagers from the trade union movement or leftist political parties, but just as many were unaffiliated, concerned citizens angry at an economic system that seems to benefit the status quo and a party political structure is aloof, unresponsive and in hock to big business.
[3] On 24 December Occupy Edinburgh activists raised a pirate flag above the nearby RBS Head Branch, claiming it was "it was the work of santa".
The Chamber's deputy chief executive, Graham Birse, said: "We did not spend all that public money for St Andrew Square to become a campsite for those with nowhere else to go.
"[5] On 30 January the group relocated to The Meadows, a park within Edinburgh, before leaving this site a couple of weeks later ahead of a legal bid to have them evicted by the City Council.