Minority blamed for Gers violence

Rangers fans go on rampage after Uefa Cup defeat

Last updated: 15th May 2008

Minority blamed for Gers violence

Rangers fans clashed with police in Manchester

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Police and council chiefs have blamed a small minority of yobs for the violence which marred the Uefa Cup final in Manchester.

Hundreds of Rangers fans went on the rampage when a big screen showing the match in the city's Piccadilly Gardens failed to work just before kick-off.

Fifteen officers were injured, as well as a police dog, and 42 arrests were made as hundreds of riot police and supporters fought running battles.

One fan of Rangers' Russian opponents, Zenit St Petersburg, was stabbed but his injuries were not life-threatening.

The match commander, Assistant Chief Constable Justine Curran, said the response of her officers was "appropriate".

Challenging

She said: "It was challenging and we were stretched. Our officers did come under a degree of violent attacks. I am happy we responded appropriately. We could not let those minor disturbances affect the day for everybody.

"I am satisfied our reaction was appropriate. I watched the scenes in Piccadilly Gardens from the control room. I saw officers chased down a street by a baying mob of around 200 people. We had to do something."

The screen that failed was one of eight mounted in the city to accommodate more than 100,000 ticketless fans who descended from Glasgow.

Council leader Sir Richard Leese said the screen went blank 15 minutes before the 7.45pm kick-off but had been working throughout the day.

Around 11,000 fans were transported by shuttle bus to an alternative screen set up rapidly at the Velodrome near the City of Manchester of Stadium - but a group of supporters stayed and vented their fury at the police.

Sir Richard said: "We are clearly disappointed that a great night was soured by a number of small people.

"We had an unprecedented number of people come to Manchester, between 100,000 and 150,0000 people. It is the biggest movement of that size for an event of this nature.

"For most of the day and in most parts of the city we had a carnival atmosphere. Most people were good humoured who were a credit to their city.

"Whether it was the big screen going down or a problem with alcohol the behaviour of this small minority of yobs was not acceptable.

"If you are going to put the blame on anyone then it has to be on these people."

Rangers view

Rangers believe the trouble involved people with no known history of following the club.

The club's chief executive Martin Bain said: "Unfortunately a screen went down in the centre of Manchester without maybe a separate feed coming in as back-up, and it has obviously been the catalyst for some incident.

"Those scenes obviously are dreadful and I've seen them myself and we have been informed ... that those scenes were caused by supporters that don't normally attach themselves to our support.

"Therefore we're extremely disappointed and we'll do everything we possibly can to help Manchester Police find out who those perpetrators are."

Rangers security chief Kenny Scott added the club would take appropriate action against the trouble-causers.

"The club and the authorities, we have to identify anybody that was responsible for any of these acts of violence," Scott said on Sky Sports News.

"The club will take the appropriate action. The difficulty is of course that many of these people will have no association with Rangers Football Club and that exacerbates our difficulties in dealing appropriately with the situation which occurred in Manchester last night."