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Manchester ARTICLES

Uefa Cup Violence in Manchester Causes Champions League U-Turn

15th May 2008

Manchester Council has abandoned its plans to put up big screens for next week's Champions League final after Scottish football thugs caused chaos in the city last night. A number of Glasgow Rangers fans - in the city to see their team play Zenit St Petersberg in the Uefa Cup Final - ran riot in the city centre, attacking both police officers and civilians.

Richard Leese, who is leader of the city council leader, said that Manchester would not show the games next Wednesday as “an appropriate response to what happened last night.” He then added that “any business or resident of the city centre” would agree with the decision.

The trouble started yesterday when a big screen that was supposed to be showing the game in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens broke before kick off. Attempts to fix the screen failed, so violence erupted. More violence also took place outside the stadium after Rangers lost 2-0 in the match, including more attacks on police. In total, 52 assaults were recorded in the city, and 42 fans were arrested. Fifteen police officers and a police dog were treated for injuries.

Glasgow Rangers issued a statement this morning, which condemned the behaviour of their badly behaved fans. However, Martin Bain, the club's chief executive, was keen to state that an “overwhelming majority” of the fans had behaved well. He said: "The club has had discussions with Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council in view of incidents in the city last night. The police and council praised the behaviour of the overwhelming majority of Rangers fans and estimates suggest there could have been around 200,000 in the city yesterday.” He then added that he was disappointed the “small minority” of badly behaved fans had “soured” the evening. He said: “We are deeply disappointed that a small minority soured what was great carnival atmosphere and this is a view shared by our fans who travelled in unprecedented numbers to Manchester.”

Source:

Daily Telegraph
The Times