Rangers game details ‘not’ in public interest
Discussions around policing tactics ahead of the weekend thousands of fans took to the streets celebrating Rangers’ title win have been deemed “not in the public interest” by Police Scotland, it can be revealed.
The police force said correspondence between Rangers Football Club, Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Government and senior officers would be kept secret due to concerns releasing it would “compromise operational policing”.
Scenes of thousands of Rangers fans taking to the streets of Glasgow on the weekend of March 6 and 7 were condemnedbypoliticianswiththe behaviour of fans labelled “disgraceful” by senior police in the aftermath.
John Scott QC, a leading lawyer, was commissioned to undertake a review of the policing approach by Police Scotland and found officers had acted proportionately.
The approach taken by police had been criticised by the SNP MSP Sandra White, who claimed the approach had failed to protect the public after Chief Constable Iain Livingstone insisted the police took “appropriate steps” to manage the crowds.
Justice secretary Humza Yousaf also labelled the scenes “shameful”.
However,thedecisiontokeep the discussions between the main stakeholders involved in the policing of the weekend secret was heavily criticised by opposition politicians.
Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam Mcarthur said the public “deserve to see how these decisions were arrived at” and whether the Scottish Government or Glasgow City Council “sought to influence them”.
He said: “Under the SNP the default seems to be to keep discussion
under wraps. There is obviously huge public concern over the decisions taken about the policing of title celebrations, especially when the light touch approach is contrasted with that taken by the police in regard to the Sarah Everard protests.”
In the aftermath of the celebrations Police Scotland claimed requests to Rangers to tell fans to go home were ignored by the club, with Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham “strongly condemning” the “lack of supp ort”
from the football club. However, Rangers said they had “initiated open dialogue with key stakeholders” including Mr Yousaf, the Scottish Government, the SPFL and Police Scotland around the implications of a league title.
But police officials claimed the detail s of these discussions, if published, would provide cr iminals wit h knowledge of key policing methods and would harm the ability of individuals to discuss plans due to a fear of having their opinions made public.
Scottish Labour justice spok esperson Neil Bibby said the correspondence should be released in the interests of transparency.
He said: "There has been much finger-pointing by the SNP Government about who should have been done more.
"This correspondence should be released so we can have full transparency and so the public can have confidence that similar scenes will not occur again.”