Janefield Street Riot

Marie and Paul were discussing this in the jungle thread last night, and by way of coincidence, I'd read an article about this the other day..

(Taken from the GB forum)

Brief outline
1/5/85 Celtic 1-1 Scotland's Shame
McInally (60) McCoist (77 pen)
Referee: Valentine (Dundee)

Aitken penalty on 2 min; scored but retake ordered because ball moved;
2nd one saved off the Scotland's Shame keepers legs;
52 minutes Davie Cooper sent off (2nd yellow) for foul on Peter Grant;
71 minutes Dawson off for an off-the-ball against Johnston;
77 min penalty to Scotland's Shame Aitken handled

So an interesting game leading up to ensuing "riot".

4000 plus Celtic fans exit via Janefield St. Crowded. (in the past many more had exited this way without problems)

* At some point a mounted police decides there is a ruck developing between opposing fans (denied by all subsequent statements by those involved). He orders 5 mounted police horses to charge through the crowd.
* 'Balaclava' style charge through absolute mobbed street. Mayhem results.
* They turn at the top of the street and charge back down again.
* People already panic-ed start in on police and second charge is met by coins and stones
* Police, not content and they call for backup - more mounties and plods arrive. 2 further charges follow. Open battle breaks out with police. Police start snatching people when full marias arrive. Numerous examples of excessive force in arrest. Many innocent bystanders nabbed.
* 100 yard of brick wall topped with steel railings collapses; people being let in and through houses to get away from police, people handing kids up onto verandas to get them out the way
* 9 police injured including the original 5 mounties, 1 police with broken nose requiring hospital
* 39 fans injured, 10 requiring hospital treatment
* 69 arrests made (41 for breach of the peace - all the police figures confusing as it also includes arrests made inside the ground and pre-game also, 19 for carrying drink, 9 for minor offences.)
* Strathclyde Police Chief Constable Sir Patrick Hamill launches immediate full police enquiry.
* Kevin Kelly, Celtic Director, makes immediate call through Celtic View for eye witness statements from those involved and gets statements from Janefield Street residents. Next 2 Celtic Views publish 4 pages of statements all stating that there was a peaceful but crowded exit before the police decided to charge.
* Results of Police Inquiry published December 1985 exonerate police - no action to be taken.
* Dennis Canavan raises question in House of Commons. Now alleged that 21 police injured and 12 "civilians". Solicitor General for Scotland dismisses Canavan's charges and 62 yet to appear at courts
* Celtic set up Police Liason Committee in January to meet regularly and later appoint Security Officer (ex-Strathclyde Police inspector)
* Independent action brought against Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police by Easterhouse solicitors on behalf of a young girl injured

pt2
The following witness statements are taken from the Celtic Views of 8/5/1985 and 15/5/1985.

Statement from the Club:

"Celtic Football Club have always cooperated with the police in every way and it is recognised that sometimes the constabulary have a difficult job to perform to keep law and order."

"Regrettably however it would appear that some policemen put many innocent people at risk as the crowds streamed out of Celtic Park last Wednesday night."

"An overwhelming consensus of opinion among people who witnessed the scene clearly indicates that the action of the mounted police in Janefield Street after the game must be called into question."

"When scattering, panic-ridden fans caused the collapse of 100 yards of an iron fence topped wall without as much as a broken window in any of the closely adjacent houses it can only be assumed that the debris was caused by a stampede."

"Our many callers, letter writers and even the residents of Janefeld Street all indicate that, whatever the precipitated the charge of the mounted policemen, it was nothing to do with fighting fans as reported in the press the next day."

"Reports indicate that the police are instituting a full enquiry. It is to be hoped that the Chairman and Directors of Celtic Football Club will be given full access to their findings."

"One thing is certain - this must never be allowed to happen again."




Witness Letters to Celtic View

I write to to express my disgust and utter disbelief at the way the mounted police behaved in Janefield Street after the Celtic v Scotland's Shame game of May 1st.
As a large crowd of Celtic supporters moved along the street singing and chanting at least four mounted police lined up and charged down the street into the crowd. As people ran to the side to avoid the onslaught they had to climb onto railings by the side of the road, and these promptly collapsed under the weight of all the people. However the police, undeterred, charged down the street again.
The police, although possibly provoked, must have known that there were far more innocent adults and small children in the crowd than troublemakers, they must also have known that the presence of the horses can inflame an already dangerous situation as was learned during the miners strike.
I believe that the police on the whole do a very commendable job under the most difficult of circumstances but this time I think they went too far. This behaviour only helped to incite the troublemakers to greater acts of violence. I can only hope that the police learn from this experience and correct their tactics.
MM, Sighthill, Glasgow

I am writing to give Mr. White my full support in calling for a full police inquiry into why police horses charged down Janefield Street.
As I left the ground in a party of five, I felt myself getting crushed more as we made our way along the street.
To our horror we turned around to see about eight policemen on horses charging towards us, then stop and turn back. This is what started all the trouble. Rival fans never clashed.
The police went back the way smiling and missiles followed them.
The next morning the Daily Record had the cheek to say that the police charged down the narrow road to stop trouble.
I also recall on the 22nd December, 1984 after a Celtic v Scotland's Shame game, walking down the same street, the police tried to get two police cars and a van through the crowd.
It's time something was done to protect Celtic fans
FD, Cumbernauld.

This is a copy of a letter sent to the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police.
In the company of my son I attended the Celtic v Scotland's Shame match on the evening of Wednesday 1st May, at the end of which I left the ground via the north-west exit into Janefield Street. I was and am both astonished and disgusted at what I saw and experienced in the next 45 or so minutes walk to Central Station.
A summary of events as I saw them is as follows:-
Janefield Street, which is fairly narrow, was heavily congested with Celtic supporters who made progress westwards both slow and uncomfortable. There was neither panic nor danger. Conversation was all concerned with the unsatisfactory nature of the game and the dissappointing result.
Without warning six mounted policemen at the gallop approached us from behind with no consideration at all for the safety of those men, women and children already tightly packed together and moving steadily if slowly.
The crowd was obliged to move as quickly as possible to right or left as appropriate in order to avoid trampling. That no pedestrian was apparently seriously injured in the charge is surprising.
The six mounted men stopped some 70 or 80 yards beyond me, turned and repeated the charge in the opposite direction, again scattering us right and left.
On this run I saw some small objects and coins thrown at the policemen who ducked to protect their faces. On both charges I was within two feet of the animals.
I managed then to move right into Holywell Street and thence to the Gallowgate which was fairly heavily congested with traffic.
By this time the astonishment of the crowd had developed into anger and I heard but did not see objects that had been thrown strike police vehicles which were arriving in substantial numbers. From these vehicles constables emerged and arrested young men indiscriminately.
From Camlachie almost as far as Barrowlands two police vehicles were driven at walking pace whilst the occupants watched the walking Celtic supporters. This was intimidatory in my opinion.
In Gallowgate I saw one man arrested by two constables who roughly handled him into one of those vehicles. He had been singing a 30-year-old Celtic Song badly. He was under the influence of drink but not remotely offensive to any reasonable individual.
One of these vehicles then crossed to the wrong side of the streetand continued int's intimidating cruise there, going through a red stop light in the process for ehich offense any other driver would have been stopped and charged.
Several police cars were driven fast in and through the pedestrian precinct of Buchanan Street and Gordon Street and in the latter a police motor cyclist drove in a dangerous manner into a group of young Celtic followers scattering them in all directions.
The above are facts. I saw no trouble inside Celtic Park other than on the field of play. I saw no Scotland's Shame supporters until 10.10pm and these were four harmless youths in Mitchell Street en route to Central Station as I was. The Celtic support was vociferous in and immediately outside the ground and in some instances foul-mouthed in the modern idiom, but there was no violence of any kind until the police charges which I have described (I am told that these were repeated but I did not see them).
Any violence - the throwing of stones and coins - resulted from the behaviour of the police and not the other way round.
The police were cruel, loutish and downright dangerous. The use of those expressions of derision and contempt directed at these men I find now perfectly understandable. Courtesy, safety and public service are conceptions completely foreign to the individuals whom I saw wearing uniforms that evening and who are being paid by the very people whom they were treating worse than animals.
I should like to think that the enquiry into these matters will be fairly carried out and that evidence will be taken not only from members of the force as recent newspaper reports have been.
Name and address supplied


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Just wondering if anyone was there that night, and how you remember it?

 

that was an intresting read, i didnt know anything about it previous to now

 

i was there that night but i never got into my usual spot in the jungle ,i worked on to a get a job finished and ended up in the celtic end ,all my mates were in the jungle and not one got harmed ,but when leaving the celtic end we heard about rioting down the road thinking it was the huns ,but turns out to be the police .
speaking to some they said celtic fans done nothing to deserve that treatment ,and they came in heavy handed with horses and so on ,im sure the celtic fans got slaughtered by the press as they do, but no one new why it kicked off .

 

First time I've read this.

Strange that the police would have charged without rival fans clashing. It'll be interesting to see people's thoughts on it.

 

I was 5 months pregnant and when the wall collapsed my mate threw me out the way of the metal fence about to fall on me - he took the full force of it and broke his leg (Larsson style). We sat on what was left of the wall till the police told us to move, even after seeing the state of his leg they told him to hop. Stewards came from inside CP and took us in to the ground till an ambulance arrived. I've never been so terrified in my life!
There had been no fighting between fans before the mounted police charged!

 

thats shocking man , all credit to your mate for taking a broken leg

 

I was there but didn't get caught up in the riot in Janefield street, by pure chance. Our problems started later at the bottom of Buchanan street as we were walking to the train. A load of coppers piled out a Sherpa and tried to lift us for nothing. Really nothing, we were simply walking along the street and a few of the bhoys weren't even wearing colours.

We took off up Buchanan street and managed to get away from them, just by luck mostly as I think they just gave up after about 50 yards but we were * ourselves to go into Central after that cos we thought we'd get lifted.

In the end we got home okay but my folks weren't too happy about me going to Hun games after that night.

 

A mate of mine was there and he said towards the end of the trouble, someone started singing 'walk with me oh my lord' and everyone joined in and started walking away, a sad day in our history.

 

I was there that night aswell. Was at the far end of the Jungle (at the segregation fence, beside the Huns) By the time we got to the exits the coppers charge was well under way, which meant we couldn't get out of the stadium. The fans stuck in the stadium thought it was the Huns who had managed to get onto Janefield St., so loads of guys were desperately trying to get out to join the fight. Looking back now it really is a wonder nobody was crushed to death. Mental, mental night.

 

that was very sad that day i wasnt there but my uncles were and they never seen anything like that before.

 

I think a lot of the post Janefield St stuff happened as a result of some * of coppers out for revenge because of some of their own taking a hiding earlier. I've been chased by Police a couple of times but the thing that freaked us out more than anything that night was that we were on the corner of Argyle St/Buchanan St right across from St. Enoch's underground when they just came screaming up in a van and piled out.

We were right on our toes but I can't help thinking that if they'd managed to get a hold of us we'd have taken a right sore one.

The * place was full of people too and no-one said a word to them!

 

Thats news to me i never knew anything of this what a horrible day that must have been for those involved.

 

The wall fell because mounted police were charging at us and there was no-where to run. On one side was the graveyard wall and on the other was a wall with a railing on top - so loads of people jumped onto it and it was the weight of them against the railing that caused the wall to collapse.

Everyone knows how narrow Janefield street used to be, most of the time you're carried along by the crowd. So to charge horses down that crowded street was nothing less than attempted murder.

There were 2 police from Motherwell in our ambulance (1 had a cut head) and even they said the mounted police were truly out of order.

It's been a long time since i've thought about that day and it brings some horrible memories back.
Old men and kids crying on the ground and people having no idea what the * was happening. If my mate hadn't saved me from that railing i doubt my daughter would have been here today.

 

I was 21 at the time and based in North West England I dont remember this being reported in the media, strange because at this time we had the Bradford City fire and very soon after Hysel, this sort of stuff was meat and drink to the papers and TV during this period, sad stuff!

 

I was there as well with all the noise we thought it was the huns attacking us the street was jam packed we were pouring out of the jungle then the clatter of hoofs and the panic when the police charged amongst us for no reason and on their second charge thats when the trouble started as we were in a blind panic when the wall collapsed people started using the stones to chuck at the police not me I must add we were trying to get to our buses

 

I remember that night I ended up thrown over the wee iron fence next to the wall at the grave yard frightening experience

 

Hail Hail

thats a night i will never forget as i ended up under the wall and had to have a stookie on.

I also am the ghirl who took the chief constable of strathclyde along with the six mounted officers to court.