CALLS continued today for an inquiry into the violence at the UEFA Cup final to be widened.
Senior politicians in Scotland have urged Manchester City Council to carry out a full inquiry into the violence, which saw clashes between police and Rangers fans following their team's 2-0 defeat.
CCTV images have shown fans charging at police an
d attacking one officer after he was tripped and fell to the ground, while hundreds of others were seen hurling bottles at riot officers.
First Minister Alex Salmond said the Manchester council inquiry would initially look at the breakdown of one of the big screens which had been due to show the match.
The incident incensed thousands of Rangers fans who had been due to watch the game at a specially created "fan zone."
Speaking at question time in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Salmond said he believed that the council's inquiry was "initially, at least, quite limited in its scope, looking in particular at the circumstances of the equipment breakdown."
He added: "I would think the inquiry should be wider in its scope.
"It seems that the behaviour of a small minority of fans was completely unacceptable
"I think there are a number of other aspects to inquire into and certainly we'll give full cooperation to all the matters under our responsibility to such an inquiry."
Scottish Labour politicians, Tories and Lib Dems have also called for a joint inquiry to be held following the violence, which Greater Manchester Police said had left 15 police officers injured under a "severe level of attack" from Rangers fans.
Former Scottish Tory leader and Edinburgh Pentlands MSP David McLetchie said a minority of Rangers fans had done serious damage to Scotland's reputation.
And he said: "All the inquiries in the world cannot disguise the fact some people behaved appallingly and should be punished severely."
But he questioned the wisdom of encouraging large numbers of fans to travel to the venue and watch the match on big screens.
He said: "Probably 80 per cent of the fans who went to Manchester didn't have tickets. Perhaps in future we should look at whether we really want to encourage vast armies of ticketless fans to congregate in city centres."
Today, Pc Mick Regan, who was seen on CCTV being ambushed by dozens of fans after helping a colleague escape a bottle attack, said the scenes were the worst violence he had witnessed in his 23-year career.
The 47-year-old was seen being kicked, punched and stamped on by the gang, but escaped with only sore ribs and a puncture wound to his arm after being dragged from the fray by a fan.
He said: "It was frightening, on a different scale from any other match I have worked in my 23-year career. It seemed the vast majority (of fans) were drunk and just wanted to cause trouble.
"Never in my career have I been in a situation like that. It was unbelievable. I can't tar them all with the same brush. The fans we met who were coming away from the stadium were as good as gold, but the people who were kicking off were drunk and out for trouble. I know they will say it's a minority but a few thousand is a big minority."
The full article contains 560 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
