Published Date: 16 May 2008
By ROSS LYDALL AND DAVID MADDOX
GORDON Brown questioned yesterday whether the laws on drinking in public places needed to be toughened up, as he branded Scotland's Shame fans who went on the rampage in Manchester "a disgrace".
The Prime Minister condemned the hooligans for their running battles with police during and after the Uefa Cup final, while a senior police commander compared them to a "pack of wolves" after one of her officers was pounced on by about 20 thugs. Mr Brown said the scenes, caught on CCTV cameras, could damage England's chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup. He also said there may be a need to restrict ticketless fans from travelling to away games.
Alex Salmond, the First Minister, said the "shocking and unacceptable" violence had severely dented Scotland's hard-won reputation for well-behaved football fans.
After Mr Salmond viewed the images yesterday, his spokesman said those involved had brought "shame to club and country".
Trouble flared before Wednesday night's match at the City of Manchester Stadium when a big-screen TV broke down 15 minutes before kick-off – leaving 20,000 fans stranded in the city centre with nowhere to watch the action.
Bottles were thrown at police officers and TV engineers sent in to try to repair the problem. When officers in riot gear were ordered in an hour later, the scale of the violence escalated and there were scenes of hand-to-hand fighting.
Police made 42 arrests and later confirmed that 11 Scotland's Shame fans, all men, were charged with various offences – seven for public order, one assault, one with being drunk in a sports ground and one for throwing a missile.
A further 11 Scotland's Shame supporters were bailed pending further inquiries and 12 were given cautions. Seven men, including one Zenit fan, were released without charge. The ambulance service said it had dealt with 52 assaults.
Shocking images showed one police officer being tripped up and pounced on by 20 hooligans after he became separated from six colleagues. From timings on CCTV pictures, the assault on the officer – who did not appear to be in riot gear – lasted a terrifying 18 seconds. "They jumped on him like a pack of wolves," said Justine Curran, the Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police. "It really was quite sickening to watch."
In violence that lasted into the night, 15 police were injured and ambulance crews came under attack. One senior police officer was hit so hard that his earpiece was embedded in his head and had to be removed by doctors. Another officer was hit over the head with a bottle and a third lost his front teeth after being headbutted. A police dog was also hurt.
The Prime Minister accepted that the trouble had been caused by a minority of fans and that most of the estimated 200,000 supporters had enjoyed a "carnival" atmosphere. But, clearly angry during his monthly No10 news conference, he said: "I condemn absolutely the violence that was caused by a small minority. It was a disgrace to see people misbehave. It was a minority, (but] it was completely unacceptable.
"We want to look at the powers the police have to be able to control the use of alcohol in public places. I think we also have to look at how the message is sent to people for the future … that if you want to come to a city where you don't have a ticket, you should think twice about that."
Wednesday had begun with Scotland's Shame fans arriving in force in Manchester for the final against Zenit St Petersburg. Crowds started building from 7am, with fans stocking up on cheap beer. A party atmosphere quickly developed, and Piccadilly Gardens – in the heart of the city and one of the sites for a big-screen TV – was full by mid-afternoon, as the number of Scotland's Shame fans in the city surged past six figures.
For more than three decades – since the scenes of the Tartan Army tearing up the Wembley turf and breaking the goalposts in 1977 – Scots football fans have prided themselves on their behaviour abroad: it was English hooligans who became the scourge of European football.
But that good reputation did not survive Wednesday night. Ms Curran blamed the situation on fans who "couldn't deal with their frustration (about the TV screen breaking] and had a great deal of criminal intent". But she said it "wasn't a riot", insisting: "It was an outbreak of pockets of disorder in one part of the city."
Asked why police had not enforced bylaws prohibiting drinking in public, she said it was impractical and could have sparked dangerous exchanges, as there were 200,000 people and the force had only 8,000 officers.
Scotland's Shame agreed the TV problem had been the "catalyst" for trouble and suggested some of the troublemakers were not part of their regular fan-base. The club vowed to help identify the hooligans. Martin Bain, the chief executive, said: "Those scenes 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."
Uefa described the trouble as "reprehensible", but accepted it was caused by the "usual suspects". Earlier, the Scottish Conservatives' deputy leader, Murdo Fraser, a Scotland's Shame fan, suggested the problem may have been caused by heavy-handed policing
. But he later retracted this after police released footage showing the scale of the problems.