Police Scotland will 'pursue everyone involved' in Old Firm violence, says Swinney

Police Scotland will “pursue everyone involved” in the violence that marred Sunday’s Old Firm match in Glasgow, the First Minister said on Monday.

Celtic knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory at Ibrox following a goalless draw.

But the game was overshadowed by the full-time controversy. Dozens of Celtic fans spilt onto the pitch in celebration, sparking an invasion by hundreds of Rangers fans from the opposite end of the stadium.

John Swinney called the scenes “completely and utterly unacceptable” and confirmed police action will follow in due course.

“The violence after the Old Firm game yesterday at Ibrox was completely and utterly unacceptable – there is no justification for it whatsoever”, he said.

“There was severe danger applied to fans and to police officers and to stewards, it was completely unacceptable in every respect.”

“What I want to make clear is the police have my full support in pursuing everyone involved in this incident, also that we will work constructively with the clubs – who must be horrified by the scenes that they witnessed – as well to address the situation, to work with the Scottish Football Association, to make sure that collaboratively and collectively, we do all that we can to make sure that these types of incidents have no place in Scottish football.”

Flares were thrown as police and stewards formed a barricade to separate the two groups of supporters.

One video appeared to show a police officer being tripped by a supporter, while another appeared to show one fan kicking another in the head on the pitch.

Pictures shared on social media also appear to show the Broomloan Road stand, which was filled with 7,500 away fans for the first time since 2018, heavily vandalised.

Seats were ripped apart, and bunting was left in parts of the stand, while graffiti mocking the Ibrox disaster was sprayed upon the walls.

The Scottish Football Association confirmed on Sunday it has launched an investigation. Rangers and Celtic have both been contacted for comment, but have yet to respond.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said those who stormed the pitch had “selfish reasons” for doing so.

He said: “Once again, it is a small group of idiots that want to ruin it for everybody else and anybody that thinks the right thing to do is to try and storm the pitch or to threaten or attack a steward or come on with masks to try and act in a threatening way clearly has very, very selfish reasons and doesn’t actually care about either the club they claim to support, or wider Scottish football or indeed Scotland’s reputation in all of these things.

“I just think it’s abhorrent and shameful, to be frank.”

The incident comes just one week after a man was charged after allegedly mocking the Ibrox disaster during the Old Firm league clash last weekend.

Police say a 28-year-old man was arrested and charged with a breach of the peace during the fixture on Sunday, March 1.