I live in Scotland and alot of my friends were down in Manchester. They were raging at how the media has portrayed this and say while the was an element of Scots involved in the rioting, the majority of accents they could hear were English. But this was set up, all co-ordinated with firms from other teams. From this side of the border it is believed that Rangers, Aberdeen and Hibs all had top boys down there. Also London Firms, and i have heard Cardiff and Leeds mentioned a few times too.
1 pal even said about a guy who was throwing bottles at the police had a West Ham badge intwined with a Rangers 1 on his top. Alot of the blame should fall at the fans/hooligans feet, but i also believe Manchester City Council could have prepared for this alot better too.
Also, police were said to be very heavy handed which didn't help matters. There are clips on youtube, and 1 in particular where a guy, Scottish accent, is asking for directions to the train station, IMO to get out of the carnage, to a police officer on the other side of a metal fence, and the officer takes a swipe at the fence with his shield in an aggresive manner.
Thats not the first time i've seen Manchester police be heavy handed, i was assaulted by an officer at City a few seasons back. When there was the problems with standing up in the south stand. The officer got isolated away from his colleagues and open palmed me to my face in a thrusting manner. It took my Dad and 2 stewards to stop me battering 10 shades of shit out of him.
How would you react if you'd been assaulted, or someone had attempted to assault you?
I do agree that Rangers fans are the scum of the earth when it comes to Sectarian chanting, and i despise them for it. There is no room for that in football, and they should be ashamed of themselves.