Anti-lockdown protestors are claiming to have "seized" Edinburgh Castle under "Article 61 of the Magna Carta" after around 20 people stormed the landmark building.
A group of people are reportedly still inside with multiple police vans and a number of officers made their way to the scene, Edinburgh Live understands.
Reports of the attempted takeover emerged around 5.45pm with a group of people walking in without paying.
The anti-lockdown protesters are claiming that Article 61 of the Magna Carta lets them ignore coronavirus lockdown laws - despite the historic document having no standing in Scottish Law.
Emergency services are currently in the area, close to the entrance to the Museum of The Royal Regiment for Scotland.
One eyewitness told Edinburgh Live as many as 30 people rushed into the castle, and members of the public were swiftly evacuated.
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In a 13-minute video shared to Scotland Against Lockdown Twitter account, a woman can be heard saying "we have seized Edinburgh Castle".
She adds the Scottish people have been "lied to all our lives" and that the "building belongs to us, we have taken the castle back" in an effort to "restore the rule of law".
Another man then says: "Treason's been going on for that long now, we can't sit back and let everybody perish under the stupid legislation and fraudulent government tyranny, so let's just take it all back, not just the castle."
The woman then can be heard calling for "no more enslavement" and the "people and commonwealth are going to be free".
She tells viewers they are going to "take everybody down", including the government, the courts and vows that the "the crown is coming down today".
The woman then goes on to claim "corrupt, evil, satanic paedophiles are running this country" and Scots have been kept "like peasants for 800 years".
As police appear, she shouts "notice to compel" and informs officers they are seizing the castle under Article 61 of Magna Carta - "the only law in the land" - which predates the Act of Union.
The woman says she has put Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone "on notice" about them taking the castle.
One officer asks the woman for her name, to which she says she is "not obliged" to do, before identifying herself anyway.
The police constable then asks: "How many more people are you expecting to come to Edinburgh Castle today to join your protest?"
When she tells him "it's not a protest, we're actually taking it back" he replies: "Right, no worries."
The Magna Carta has no standing in Scottish law. The first of many versions was signed in 1215 by King John.
Article 61 - the part of the document the anti-lockdown protesters are claiming to invoke - originally gave a set of 25 barons the right to "assail" the monarch to keep to the document's provisions
However, it was repealed within a year of being written. In future versions, the cause was not included.
The anti-lockdown protesters and coronavirus sceptics have used Article 61 of the Magna Carta as a reason to ignore government Covid regulation.
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A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Officers are currently in attendance at Edinburgh Castle and are engaging with a group of people who have gathered within the Castle grounds.”
A spokesperson for Historic Environment Scotland said: “A group of around 20 individuals entered Edinburgh Castle this evening without payment.
"After refusing requests to leave the premises Police Scotland were called to the site and are dealing with the matter. There are no other visitors currently on site.”
