Old Firm cup final disorder ‘completely and utterly unacceptable’, says John Swinney

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Disorder before the Old Firm game on Sunday was “completely and utterly unacceptable”, John Swinney has said.

Videos on social media have shown hundreds of fans running along Argyle Street in Glasgow ahead of the League Cup Final between Rangers and Celtic, with police using batons on the crowds.

The force also reported missiles being thrown at officers resulting in one being injured, but Swinney insisted police had the situation “under control”.

The First Minister said during a visit in Paisley on Monday: “There was a completely and utterly unacceptable level of violence from a small minority of football fans involved in the game yesterday. It caused fear and alarm for people who were quite happily going about their Christmas shopping in the centre of Glasgow and it should not, in any circumstances, have taken place.”

He said the two clubs have the responsibility to “take account of the behaviour of their fans”. Police were forced to invoke special powers which lowers the bar for members of the public to be stopped and searched within the city’s east end, south side and into parts of South Lanarkshire on Sunday.

“Police Scotland had the situation entirely well and comprehensively policed,” he said, warning of repercussions for those involved. There will, of course, be consequential action as a result of these incidents, which is a matter for Police Scotland, but fundamentally, this type of behaviour is unacceptable, it’s a minority of fans that are involved and it should not be tolerated.”

Police have said inquiries are ongoing in relation to the disorder, which saw a 26-year-old man taken to hospital after a serious assault and also included the smashing of windows at a pub on Howard Street, but no arrests have been made in relation to the city centre violence, the force said.

“We dealt with a number of incidents in Glasgow city centre involving individuals engaging in disorder and violence,” said Chief Superintendent Stevie Dolan, of Police Scotland.

“Our inquiries are ongoing to identify those who were involved and we will take appropriate action against them. I urge anyone who has any information that could assist our investigation to contact us.

"I want to make it clear that the use of weapons and violence will not be tolerated and retrospective inquiries are being carried out. We are following a number of lines of investigation, including reviewing CCTV and footage on social media. I would like to thank the majority of fans for their conduct throughout the day.”

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