UEFA Cup Final: Zenit St Petersburg v Rangers

[AF1]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... 166626.ece


Obviously I haven't read what the Sun has to say but the video tells me plenty of what I already knew about these 'fans'


LOL @ police brutality

[FiNeRaIn]

Twat.

We going back to school for the day?

Fvcking oxf*rd, prick, mong, fanny face.....see, I can do it too.

[FiNeRaIn]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1166626.ece


Obviously I haven't read what the Sun has to say but the video tells me plenty of what I already knew about these 'fans'


LOL @ police brutality

Minority, obviously. There are pics of people being bitten by police dogs when they are on the floor, that is brutality imo.

[weybridgewanderer]

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... -20418966/

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UEFA Cup Final riot: The police lost control

May 16 2008 By Keith McLeod(daily record reported) In Manchester

BEING on the wrong end of a full-scale charge by police in riot gear is not an experience I'll want to remember.

One minute the police had lined up, batons drawn and shields up, the next all hell broke loose.

The police charges seemed ad-hoc, ill-planned and badly co-ordinated.

One minute they drove fans in one direction, the next it was another.

This meant that innocent people who had little knowledge of what was going on became embroiled through no fault of their own.

Some, taken by surprise, were simply not fast enough to outrun the police, who brought in vans and dogs.

The trigger had been a small number of "fans" who goaded the police by going eye-to-eye with them or chucking a bottle.

And it was remarkable that almost none of the ringleaders wore club colours or spoke with a Scottish accent. There were, however, many English and Northern Irish accents.

However, no matter who was involved, the charge by the police was indiscriminate.

Anyone in their line of advance was a potential target, or so it seemed.

This meant that when the charge began, the first of a dozen when police frankly lost control of Manchester city centre, those fans who had provoked it scattered quickly, leaving innocents behind to deal with the consequences.

This was Piccadilly Gardens, the main fan zone in Manchester's showpiece UEFA Cup final celebration.

I can remember running back with my right hand up to protect myself from any baton blow.

People were being chased into a confined space with no obvious escape route.

Thankfully, the full-on police charge halted short of me and I escaped intact.

Others were not quite so lucky though. I saw baton blows being landed on heads. Maybe police were aiming for the upper arm but the blows did land on heads.

The next thing I saw was more clear cut. This time, three riot officers chased one man who fell to his knees next to the shutters of a shop.

Despite the fact he was down, a baton blow hit him square on the back, quickly followed by another.

The police officer who cuffed him saw fit to land three kicks to the kidney area. The next two hours were punctuated by similar charges where drunk hooligans went face to face with the police.

Each time more riot police were bussed in, the buses themselves along with police cars became immediate targets for bottles.

My colleague Craig McDonald was also caught up, though in a different area.

Several people had hit the deck and showed no sign of getting up any time soon.

Ambulances were allowed through the mob but police vans and cars were instant targets.

It was a good idea to crouch in a shop doorway or a nearby alley because there was no way of telling where the next missile was going to land.

I saw many people with head injuries and baying macho fronts on both sides. A small group of thugs were taunting the police to come forward, which they did at speed, some thumping their batons against their shields. As a bottle was thrown, one cop wearing helmet and visor chose to meet it with a headbutt.

As the chaos continued I saw elderly people trying to flee and mothers running with toddlers in their arms or in their chairs.

At one point, police bundled two Record photographers into a police van for their "own safety" - only for other police to force them out again seconds later.

Only when the police cleared out, leaving no target for the bottle throwers, did things calm down. Zenit fans mingled with Rangers fans with no inter-fan fighting.

We were shocked by the trouble but not surprised.

I was uneasy at 4pm on Wednesday.

I had arrived at Piccadilly Gardens and was even then concerned by the huge numbers on the streets.

Yes, it was a carnival atmosphere.

But there were too many people. Even at that stage there were too many, causing bottlenecks and potential for crushing.

As I made my way to another fan zone at Cathedral Gardens it dawned on me there were too many fans in the city as a whole.

Police and stewards were doing their best but there were not enough of them.

It struck me police had badly misjudged numbers of fans. There seemed to be double the anticipated 100,000.

Manchester City Council had told us they were used to huge sporting events and could cope.

Fan zones with a combined capacity of 22,000 just didn't stack up.

The trouble on the streets seemed to be sparked when a huge screen in the main fan zone broke down five minutes before kick-off. For 15 minutes, a sign on the screen said the link from the stadium was being repaired.

Then the screen went blank.

At this point, thousands of angry fans tried to get to the other big screens elsewhere in the city centre.

At first, police allowed access down Oldham Street. Then a line of riot police blocked the street off.

When aggressive riot police line up, it is highly intimidating. It seems to bring out aggressive and intimidating behaviour in people that way inclined.

The worst of the trouble began when the riot police arrived. It stopped when the riot police left.

[Dirk Gently]

I was speaking to a quite high up police bod a few year agos. His view was “you only ever unleash riot police if you’ve already lost control of the situation, and as soon as you unleash them, you’ve lost control of them too”.

[Huntley & Palmer]

It's what Tommy Burns would have wanted

[RoyalChicagoFC]

I was speaking to a quite high up police bod a few year agos. His view was “you only ever unleash riot police if you’ve already lost control of the situation, and as soon as you unleash them, you’ve lost control of them too”.

...or, as Richard J. Daley so famously put it to the press 40 years ago:

"Gentlemen, get the thing straight once and for all: the policeman isn't there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder."

[AndyRFC]

Cant say I've ever seen scenes quite like it and doubt I ever will again. Arriving at Piccadilly Gardens at 3.30ish and you couldnt move, we popped in the Wetherspoon to top up and it was a great atmosphere in there. The Fan Zone was rammed. You could not physically move for people or empty beer cans, we decided to head back out and attempt to find an offy and get some food and headed back to PG by six. It was clear that it was over packed then and thought it could get worse so we got out of there. Finding a Man City pub on Newton Street to watch the match, is was great. Live band before hand had everyone singing Simply the Best Didnt really know owt about the "riots" until after the game, Manc City council though just were not prepared enough for nigh on 150,000 Scotsmen turning up. I dread to think what would happen should England ever hold a World Cup again, we just don't have the infrastructure. Interestingly enough though, some 'English' supporters are reported to have been the ones having a pop at old bill.

[AF1]

Interestingly enough though, some 'English' supporters are reported to have been the ones having a pop at old bill.

ALOL

I saw them trotting that excuse out today along with Alan Brazil blaming the council and everyone else wanting to blame the coppers

Why can't Rangers FC and their fans take responsibilty for their actions

[bobby1413]

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/05/16/uefa-cup-final-riot-the-police-lost-control-86908-20418966/

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UEFA Cup Final riot: The police lost control


This meant that innocent people who had little knowledge of what was going on became embroiled through no fault of their own.

Some, taken by surprise, were simply not fast enough to outrun the police, who brought in vans and dogs.
...

However, no matter who was involved, the charge by the police was indiscriminate.

Anyone in their line of advance was a potential target, or so it seemed.

That's all I'm bothering to read of that stupid ignorant and short-sighted article. The whole problem with a "riot" is that there is a complete loss of control, the best you can do is to physically try to stop/minimise the behaviour. You can't talk or reason with the crowd as there are hundreds/thousands of them. As for the police being "indiscriminate", do you expect them to run around one set of people, to another and see if they are causing trouble. Anyone in that huge pack of wolves (I mean people), are there for the taking. "Anyone in their line of advance was a potential target" - yes - exactly what you would expect. It's a riot.

[papereyes]

That's why they're riot police so "happy happy fun cuddle time" police

[Huntley & Palmer]

Cant say I've ever seen scenes quite like it and doubt I ever will again. Arriving at Piccadilly Gardens at 3.30ish and you couldnt move, we popped in the Wetherspoon to top up and it was a great atmosphere in there. The Fan Zone was rammed. You could not physically move for people or empty beer cans, we decided to head back out and attempt to find an offy and get some food and headed back to PG by six. It was clear that it was over packed then and thought it could get worse so we got out of there. Finding a Man City pub on Newton Street to watch the match, is was great. Live band before hand had everyone singing Simply the Best Didnt really know owt about the "riots" until after the game, Manc City council though just were not prepared enough for nigh on 150,000 Scotsmen turning up. I dread to think what would happen should England ever hold a World Cup again, we just don't have the infrastructure. Interestingly enough though, some 'English' supporters are reported to have been the ones having a pop at old bill.

Did you throw your shoe at the OB?

[Farnborough Royal]

LOL

[AF1]

Outragous photos there Farnborough Royal


Clearly the council were at fault for not having NO MOONING signs visable, not to mention the obvious police brutality and the fact he clearly wasn't a Rangers fan


Oh...

[papereyes]

He could have at least pulled his trousers up

[AF1]

Following the disturbances, Manchester United's planned homecoming parade after next week's Champions League final has been cancelled.



Scum ruins it for everyone again...

[AF1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manc ... 404185.stm


To be fair the copper looks like a nutter, clearly all those Rangers lads were lucky to get away unharmed

[AthleticoSpizz]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7404185.stm


To be fair the copper looks like a nutter, clearly all those Rangers lads were lucky to get away unharmed

Had the Strathclyde Police been there, then the "Rangers Lads" stupidity and violence would've been upstaged ..... and they would've known better than to "kick-off"

Pathetic, hysterical pack hound dickheads the lot of them

a pathetic waste of an occasion

[Thaumagurist*]

After 15 pints o' heavy the Hun couldn't remember whether to wax on/off or paint the fence

.

[Zammo]

Two years, too late