Garbage bins overflow in the midst of long-awaited city festival: sanitation workers’ strike demanding wages drowned in trash Edinburghwelcoming artists and visitors from all over the world.

Tens of thousands of artists and tourists flock to the capital. Scotland for this important festival that turns Edinburgh into a huge stage for dance, theater and music every summer.

Many express dissatisfaction with the stench of garbage that accumulates on the streets. “I didn’t play today. Not even yesterday, because there’s no nice place for music,” street artist James Tofali said as he picked up trash outside Waverley Station.

Gina Rank, a tourist from Australia, admitted she was disappointed that she didn’t find the “Beautiful Edinburgh” she knew: “That’s not usually the case,” she commented. “It’s breathtaking, and not just because of the stink. Some came this year for the first time. It is a pity that they leave with such an impression,” he said.

Edinburgh native Ian Tomlinson said he had never seen his city like this before. “It’s embarrassing. It really bothers me to walk around the city and see so much garbage.”

Like other workers in various sectors across the country (dockers, train drivers…), waste workers in Edinburgh are on strike for higher wages amid the UK’s purchasing power crisis. The strike began on Thursday and will last until 30 August.

Miles Briggs, spokesman for local authorities, said the situation was “tarnishing the city’s image” and urged the Scottish government to intervene. Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon expressed regret that the strike coincided with the festival while Edinburgh is “at the center of the art world”. He hopes Friday’s 5% hike proposal will solve the problem, but the unions insist the figure is out of line with inflation, which stands at 10.1% (a 40-year high) and is expected to hit 13% in October.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}