Nicola Sturgeon calls Rangers fan gatherings 'disgraceful' and 'selfish'

Nicola Sturgeon's hit out at Rangers fans who broke lockdown rules to celebrate in their thousands in Glasgow over the weekend.

The First Minister's also heavily criticised the club, saying they could have done more.

She's vowed to work with police to ensure there won't be a repeat at the next old firm game later this month.

She'll meet Scotland's Chief Constable Iain Livingstone later today to discuss future plans.

The First Minister said: "I share the anger and despair that the vast majority of people, including I'm sure the majority of football fans, felt at the weekend towards crowds of supporters flagrantly breaching rules that the rest of us are following every day at great personal cost.

"The behaviour witnessed at the weekend was disgraceful and it was selfish.

"Now it's natural that some of the anger people feel is directed towards the government and the police - I absolutely understand that. All of us must reflect on what more could have been done and what more we need to do to avoid any repeat in the future.

"But those at fault are those who breached the rules - how the police manage situations like this is an operational matter, the government cannot and should not direct policing operations.

"I will though, be speaking to the Chief Constable later this afternoon to consider what further action might be necessary to avoid any repeat of the unacceptable scenes we saw at the weekend."

It comes after Rangers wrote to the First Minister following strong criticism of the club's approach to dissuading its supporters to celebrate at the weekend.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney had said the "silence from Rangers was deafening" when speaking about the issue at the Scottish Government's coronavirus briefing on Monday.

The club said in a statement to Ms Sturgeon: "It is particularly disappointing that there has been a lack of acknowledgement from the Scottish Government to the wide range of efforts we undertook to limit public safety issues.

"It is also particularly disappointing that Mr Swinney has chosen to lambast Rangers publicly, given the fact that we had proactively initiated engagement with Police Scotland, the SPFL, the Scottish Government as well as a local MP."

The letter went on to list 10 events in which it claims to have made efforts in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Scotland's top police officer has asked John Scott QC to scrutinise the force's handling of the unlawful celebrations in Glasgow at the weekend as part of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) which look at the force's handling of coronavirus powers.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said: "I have asked Mr Scott to consider the events of the weekend at the next scheduled IAG meeting on Friday, having regard to the fundamental human rights principles of legality, necessity and proportionality, and to consider any relevant issues for the policing of future events over the coming months."

Police made 28 arrests and seven people were issued with fixed penalty notices or will be reported to the procurator fiscal.

The congregations took place despite coronavirus legislation which forbids such gatherings due to the dangers to public health.

Reasons for arrest included assaulting police officers, breaching coronavirus regulations, disorder, use of flares and sectarian breaches of the peace.

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