The circle is round: Police 'source' claims RFC fans blocked their response

[trublusince1982 243]

There was never any chance of vehicles reaching the stadium in 30's through any sort of heavy football support leaving a ground .

 

Poor planning with a complete lack of foresight .

[forlanssister 3,050]

There was never any chance of vehicles reaching the stadium in 30's through any sort of heavy football support leaving a ground .

 

Poor planning with a complete lack of foresight .

 

They could easily have done so had any of them been located behind the Hibs end, begs the question is why weren't any of located there?

[ian1964 10,416]

They could easily have done so had any of them been located behind the Hibs end, begs the question is why weren't any of located there?

 

Police Scotland are there to video the Rangers fans,you knew that though:)

[ian1964 10,416]

Big Brother Is Watching (Sometimes)

 

By EARL C

Updated Saturday, 28th May 2016

 

The aftermath of the Scottish Cup Final tells us something about Scottish society and Police Scotland.

 

The statement by Calum Steele in the aftermath of Hibs Hampden Shame remains, days later remains nothing short of astonishing. That anyone – never mind a paid, senior mouthpiece of the Police Federation – could have the gall to claim that the standard of the policing was “nothing short of remarkable” and “should be praised to the highest heavens” beggars’ belief.

 

As goalposts and nets were ripped asunder, recently laid and expensive turf was desecrated, advertising hoardings were being vandalised, the swarm of locusts then jostled, manhandled, spat on and assaulted the Rangers players and staff, there was no visible sign of the forces of law and order attempting to ensure that people were not being made safe in their working environment on the pitch. Yards away off the pitch, disabled fans were being goaded and abused (bizarrely, the entire Scottish mainstream media has missed out this monstrous story – mind you, there are so many they chose to miss that day, I shouldn’t be in the least surprised at this one being missed also) and you have to say that it takes a particularly special kind of cowardly bully to taunt and abuse the blind, the lame and the helpless.

 

I throw the word helpless in not as a reflection of those that were being freely terrorised but more as a point of reference in that police officers stood yards away as this was occurring and failed to intervene. Let that one sink in – as the most vulnerable were being ridiculed and maltreated, Police Scotland’s reaction was to stand back and do nothing. Actually, that’s not quite accurate – those poor fans had to take evasive action as mounted police thundered towards them as police (finally) attempted to wrest control of the situation several minutes and a lifetime later. You’re being spat upon and verbally abused and Police Scotland’s idea of customer service is not to make you safe and arrest the aggressor but is instead to place you in further harms way courtesy of being forced to evade stampeding horses. Absolutely quality stuff, one has to say.

 

We were also treated to the sight of police officers (whom, we are assured, are not in any way politicised or biased) filming Rangers fans as, only yards away from their very backs, Rangers players and staff were being assaulted, abused and placed in danger. That is not merely beyond belief but, quite frankly, utterly contemptible. I always took the viewpoint that a police officers first duty was to protect those in need and uphold the law.

 

As events unfolded on the despoiled Hampden turf, it became blindingly obvious that the Police Scotland now consider the safety of citizens to be of secondary importance. Let’s be blunt here; we were one spoon-burning Ned high on Buckfast and bigotry away from a fatal stab wound being inflicted upon a player. And before you accuse me of hyperbolic histrionics, ask yourself this simple question – do you really believe that not one of those jolly craicsters that rampaged across the pitch was carrying a concealed weapon?

 

Scotland has a massive issue with knife crime and I’d argue, anecdotally and statistically, that there were dozens of concealed weapons freely roaming around Hampden. That someone was not stabbed or threatened with one of them genuinely surprises me. Make no mistake; we were a heartbeat away from witnessing a far greater tragedy on Saturday afternoon.

 

At a base level, risk management operates on the sound and responsible principle of hope for the best but prepare for the worst. In the case of Police Scotland and the SFA, they clearly hoped for something halfway to quite good but prepared for next to nothing.

 

This was amateur hour (and a half) and it was unquestionably incompetence on a grand, industrial scale. Heads should roll for this – on the showpiece occasion of the footballing season, the residing memories of it shall be that an entire side was physically and verbally abused, mascots were terrified, disabled fans were ridiculed, hours of work by hard working ground staff was obliterated, sponsors are now associated with shameful scenes by default and the wider, watching world saw Scottish football for exactly what it was – a pool of hatred fermenting in a cesspit of bile. In some ways, one could contend that the conduct of Police Scotland actually was exemplary, except that it was a perfect example of how NOT to do things.

 

Again, I reiterate, heads should roll. And to repeat myself, if you’ll forgive me, it was miraculous that no-one was more seriously injured. Despite the horrendous scenes, Police Scotland got lucky. Getting lucky is not the benchmark of exemplary policing – it is the hallmark of inadequacy and proof that those in charge are unfit for office. At a bare minimum, within 24 hours the match commander should have been publicly admonished and RFC given a full and frank apology by the head honcho of Police Scotland. Of course, all we will receive is the usual feeble platitudes of lessons will be learnt and we’ll get it right next time etc. Their excuses, much their policing, are predictably pathetic and utterly inadequate.

 

The notion that the long arm of the law will reach out and apprehend a substantial portion of Saturday’s offenders is a joke as Police Scotland has the range of reach of a thalidomide victim and the willpower of a dieting glutton in a well stocked cake shop. Under the current government they have indeed become politicised and their impartiality reduced to a fading, distant memory.

 

When you’d prefer to film football fans rather than stop serious assaults taking place or protect vulnerable members of society then you know that you’ve got a deep rooted issue embedded in your working DNA. It also suggests a wider societal problem that needs to be addressed; why did Police Scotland feel comfortable enough to disregard criminality taking place (quite literally behind their backs) and instead opt to continue with their Orwellian fascination of the Rangers fans?

 

Evidently, Big Brother likes watching us but not all of the stuff that’s happening, though – some of that he’s happy to blissfully ignore altogether. When a police force chooses to happily disregard criminality then you’re forced to inescapably arrive at the conclusion that the powers that be look upon us as second class citizens. The logic may be contentious but the conclusion is irrefutably true. The demonization of Unionism in general and the Rangers support in particular that has occurred under the current government’s rule has allowed us to arrive at a point in time where thugs feel safe in the knowledge that they can attack and assault without fear of being stopped, never mind arrested. This is exactly where Scottish society finds itself now and this is through deliberate choice, not luck or a concatenation of series of unfortunate events.

 

The performance of Police Scotland was shockingly bad and to try and dress it up as anything else is an abrogation of common sense that borders on the clinically delusion.

 

When I read the statement that was made by Calum Steele, the man who praised “the speed, the skill, the agility and indeed the brilliance with which the police officers brought events under control”, the first image that sprung to my mind was that of Comical Ali, spokesman for Saddam Hussein's regime.

 

This image resonates with me; a puppet (being worked by and behalf of whom, I wonder?) spouting a ridiculous statement (that contains more holes than a tramp’s string vest) on behalf a fascist dictator (who rules by virtue of fear and bullying) to an unquestioning media (not one of whom has the cojones to point out the truth).

 

Modern day Scotland twinned with yesterday’s 1980's Iraq Now there’s a marketing slogan that the Advertising Standards Authority would agree was legal, decent, honest and truthful – four things that the Police Scotland statement certainly wasn’t.

 

http://www.followfollow.com/news/tmnw/big_brother_is_watching_sometimes_888399/index.shtml

[boabie 230]

" At a bare minimum, within 24 hours the match commander should have been publicly admonished and RFC given a full and frank apology by the head honcho of Police Scotland. Of course, all we will receive is the usual feeble platitudes of lessons will be learnt and we’ll get it right next time etc. "

 

Receiving platitudes is one thing I didn't expect. I would probably have been more comfortable with that. Instead we got exactly what I did expect - the focus turning 180 degrees around to examine the behaviour of the Rangers fans.

[ian1964 10,416]

Compare and contrast the press dealing with the Lennon incident and Saturday.

 

Hearts fan cleared of attacking Celtic boss Lennon is jailed for running on to the pitch

 

By Sportsmail Reporter Updated: 17:21, 14 September 2011

 

A football fan cleared of a pitchside assault on Celtic manager Neil Lennon was jailed today for eight months for a breach of the peace at the match and handed a five-year football banning order.

 

John Wilson, 26, was accused of a sectarian attack on Lennon as his side played Hearts in a crucial Clydesdale Bank Premier League game at Tynecastle on May 11.

 

A jury at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month found the charge against the unemployed labourer was not proven.

 

The verdict came despite Wilson telling the court that he had lunged at Lennon and struck him on the head in an incident he claimed was not of a sectarian nature.

 

Celtic said the acquittal was 'difficult to comprehend'.

 

Hearts fan Wilson, from Edinburgh, was convicted of carrying out a breach of the peace during the game, after the jury deleted an allegation that the offence was aggravated by religious prejudice.

 

Television viewers looked on as Wilson invaded the pitch and charged towards Lennon during the match earlier this year. The incident unfolded after Celtic went two goals up.

 

At the trial, the jury of eight men and seven women took two and a half hours to find Wilson guilty of conducting himself in a disorderly manner, running on to the pitch, running at the away team dugout, shouting, swearing, causing disturbance to the crowd and breaching the peace.

 

The court previously heard claims, denied by Wilson, that he had called Lennon a "fenian b******" at the game.

 

But he was cleared of making a sectarian remark during the incident after jurors deleted the allegation from the breach of the peace charge.

 

Wilson said he had called Lennon a "f****** w*****".

 

The jury also cleared Wilson of assaulting Lennon, following the three-day trial, despite the accused admitting in open court that he had lunged at the Celtic manager, struck him on the head and assaulted him.

 

He had also tried to plead guilty to the assault at an earlier stage in the court proceedings, if the allegation that the incident was aggravated by religious prejudice was removed. Prosecutors rejected his plea and the case went before a jury.

 

The Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland QC, subsequently defended the Crown's decision to prosecute Wilson for alleged sectarian remarks.

 

Giving evidence on the first day of the trial, Lennon told the court that the pitchside incident followed a season which saw him sent bullets and a suspicious device.

 

He said: 'It took the gloss off the team's performance and I knew the headlines would be about me again, rather than the team, and that really disappointed me.'

 

Lennon said Hearts versus Celtic games are 'more raucous than usual' but this particular game in May 'had a bit more of an edge to it' with a lot of abuse coming from the stands.

 

During his evidence, the court heard that the atmosphere in the ground after the match was 'very tense' and 'quite intimidating'.

 

Lennon said the incident left him 'angry after all the stuff that had happened to me previously'.

 

He told the court: 'Packages have been sent in the past. A 24-hour armed guard outside my house. Police protection. My house has been refitted with new security alarms and systems and all that sort of thing.

 

'I was sent viable devices in the post. I was sent bullets in the post.'

 

Wilson, who has three previous convictions for breach of the peace, told the court the incident must have been 'awful' for Lennon and said he had written a letter of apology to him.

 

Celtic said at the time of the verdict: 'It is for the jury to decide on this case. However, we find the accused's acquittal of the charge of assault difficult to comprehend bearing in mind our knowledge of the incident.

 

'One thing is clear - this was a disgraceful incident involving Neil Lennon, seen by the world, the sort of incident which should not have happened in any football stadium and one which embarrassed Scottish football.'

 

The sentence was backdated to May 12 - the date Wilson was taken into custody.

 

He has spent more than four months behind bars.

 

Sheriff Fiona Reith QC told Wilson he was convicted of a "serious" crime amid a "highly volatile" atmosphere in a crowd of more than 16,000 football supporters.

 

She told him: 'The football match was a high profile game between Celtic and Hearts. There was evidence that there was a 'terrible', 'very tense' and 'poisonous' atmosphere in the stadium between both sets of supporters, with racist and sectarian shouting and chanting coming from supporters.

 

'The atmosphere got even worse after a Hearts player was sent off and then when Celtic scored a second goal in the second half of the game.

 

'It was just after this that you ran on to the field of play and committed the breach of the peace of which you have been convicted.'

 

She said one police officer told the court that the whole stadium then 'erupted' after Wilson's actions.

 

She said: 'He described how extreme antagonism between both sets of supporters of a bigoted, sectarian nature 'really kicked off', as he put it. He described the atmosphere at this point as being very, very volatile and he feared a pitch incursion as the crowd was angry.

 

'A breach of the peace can sometimes be a quite minor crime but sometimes it is not. In this case it was not minor at all. It was serious, and with serious potential consequences in the context of what was already a highly volatile atmosphere in the crowd of over 16,000 football supporters.'

 

The sheriff said a custodial sentence was the only appropriate one in light of the 'nature and gravity' of the offence.

 

'It has to be clearly understood by you and others that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and will be punished, and punished firmly, by the courts,' she told Wilson.

 

Sheriff Reith said Wilson would have been jailed for 12 months had he not offered to plead guilty to the charge at an early stage.

 

The court also handed Wilson a football banning order for five years from today. The order prevents him from attending any regulated football matches in the UK during that period.

 

Various conditions are attached to the order, including a requirement that Wilson checks in with police within five days of his release from jail.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz49x69ZCr0