Heavy-handed police threats to travelling Toon fans

NEWCASTLE United fans heading to Belgium face "aggressive and illegal" police actions, a senior politician has warned.

Conservative MEP Martin Callanan has written to Belgian police chiefs both nationally and locally to make clear that their expected heavy-handed approach to travelling Toon fans risks breaking the law.

Mr Callanan, a North East MEP, intervened after fans were threatened with a night in the cells for actions which would not result in an arrest back home.

Advice handed out to some 10,000 fans set to head abroad for United’s Europa League game against Club Brugge on November 8 includes a Draconian warning that supporters without a valid ticket for the match will be prevented from travelling to the stadium, and anyone found in the vicinity of the stadium during the whole of match day without a ticket will be arrested.

Police also said that anyone who arrives at any border control point in Belgium with alcohol in their possession will have it taken off them. Mr Callanan has told the local Brugge police commissioner and a Belgian federal police commissioner that the threat of "arbitrary arrest and detention" breaks EU rules on free movement.

As the Euro MP pointed out to officers, Newcastle fans have a record of good behaviour and do not constitute a threat.

Mr Callanan said: "I cannot accept the threat of arbitrary arrest and detention of Newcastle United supporters or indeed anyone from the UK simply exercising their right of free movement within the EU.

"There are long links between the people of Flanders and my constituency and many visitors to Brugge from the North East of England bring considerable economic benefits to the city.

"I would not like to see the goodwill fostered by this history of exchange lost through aggressive policing tactics and illegal threats."

Mr Callanan is set to raise the issue with European Commissioners to ensure police do not break EU law.

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http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/communities/newcastle/2012/10/30/heavy-handed-police-threats-to-travelling-toon-fans-72703-32122675/

LOCAL businesses and police were today getting ready for the visit of Newcastle United fans with scores of Geordies expected in Brugge in the next 24 hours.

Pubs and bars in the main square area of town were today briefed that drinks must be served in plastic glasses and that tables and chairs outside must be cleared away by midday as police look to stay on top of travelling fans.

Fans travelling without tickets were curious to see if a big screenwould be put in place in the main square but there was no evidence of this early this afternoon as Brugge prepares for the big game.

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Wenger wary of deadly Van Persie

Arsenal know precisely how dangerous Robin van Persie can be, but Arsene Wenger does not think that will make it any easier to stop the Manchester United forward.
The Gunners are set to face off against their former captain for the first time since his £24million summer move to Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime.

Van Persie netted some 132 goals in eight seasons with the north London club, and Wenger said: "Robin Van Persie has a great quality in the fraction of a second that he understands where to go - you can talk and talk and talk, but defenders have to read that at the same time. His speed of analysing those little pockets around the box are absolutely exceptional."

He continued: "The team know him as well because they have played against him in training. But in the game it is a question of timing - how quickly will they read it as well as he reads it?"

The Gunners were humiliated 8-2 on their last visit to United in August 2011.

However, they were crippled by injuries to key men for the game, in which then rookie full-back Carl Jenkinson was sent off, with Aaron Ramsey the only likely starter on Saturday from the XI that miserable afternoon.

Wenger insists while painful at the time, that freak result under "exceptional circumstances" following an energy-sapping Champions League qualifier in Udinese is now well and truly out of the squad's system.

Nevertheless, the Arsenal manager insists damage limitation was never part of his footballing psyche.
"There is purely an emotional aspect in the 8-2, but there is no mathematical consequence. We lost a game, that is all," he said.

"The football aspect was easy to explain. We gave everything in Udinese three days before in 35 degrees at night and I knew that we would be dead. We lost vital defensive players in that game. We went out very exposed, but the most important game of the week was at Udinese."

Source: PA

Sheffield Wednesday's Gary Madine charged with affray

A Sheffield Wednesday footballer has appeared in court charged with affray and intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Striker Gary Madine appeared at Sheffield Magistrates Court in connection with an incident on Carver Street in March.

The 22-year-old former Carlisle United player was granted bail.

Mr Madine is due to appear at Leeds Crown Court on 13 November.

'Embarrassed? Nothing about Hillsborough embarrasses me':

'Embarrassed? Nothing about Hillsborough embarrasses me': What controversial police chief told Merseyside councillors

The disgraced officer, who has quit after claims he smeared Liverpool fans in the aftermath of the disaster, told the police authority the most awkward moment of his career was falling over on his first day as a constable

 Disgraced police chief Sir Norman Bettison infuriated Merseyside councillors, it emerged this weekend, when he told them the episode in his career he would most like to forget was not the Hillsborough disaster, but falling over on his first day as a constable.

Sir Norman, who resigned last week as chief constable of West Yorkshire, told an interview panel in October 1998, when he was applying for the top post at Merseyside Police, that the incident he would most like to forget was "that fall on my first day in uniform".

The following month, during an "informal meeting" with all members of the police authority, he was challenged over why he had not used the opportunity to express regret for the Hillsborough disaster. He insisted instead: "Nothing about Hillsborough embarrasses me." The exchange came only months after he had been named as a member of a South Yorkshire Police unit set up to "deflect blame" away from senior officers in the months following the crush that killed 96 Liverpool fans at the FA Cup semi-final in April 1989.

Relatives of Hillsborough victims, and the MP who first revealed Sir Norman's role in the aftermath of the disaster, condemned the revelation yesterday, but said it was entirely in line with his refusal to accept any responsibility for the behaviour of South Yorkshire Police after Hillsborough.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel reported last month that the force had amended scores of witness statements to remove criticism of the police, in an attempt to shift blame on to the fans. In Sir Norman's resignation statement last week, he said that an inquiry into his role after Hillsborough was "a distraction" to the West Yorkshire force.

Sir Norman's appointment to head policing across the Liverpool area only nine years after Hillsborough sparked huge protests from victims' relatives and MPs, who complained that the decision was "insensitive to say the least".

Six months earlier, Liverpool MP Maria Eagle had told the House of Commons that Sir Norman was part of a South Yorkshire team set up to orchestrate "a black propaganda campaign which aimed to deflect the blame for what had happened on to anyone other than themselves". He has always denied this.

At least four councillors on the nine-strong appointments panel subsequently claimed they had been given no idea of Sir Norman's Hillsborough connections before they rubber-stamped his appointment in October 1998. Three later resigned. Sir Norman's application form, submitted while he was assistant chief constable at South Yorkshire, referred to his policing experience only from October 1989, six months after Hillsborough.

Minutes of an "informal meeting" between Sir Norman and the full police authority on 2 November 1989, released by the Hillsborough Independent Inquiry, show that councillor Frank Prendergast queried the new chief constable on the answer he had given to the interview question about "the incident you would most like to forget".

Mr Prendergast said: "I cannot understand how your Hillsborough experience could not have been touched on in your answer."

Sir Norman replied: "I considered [the question] to relate to my proudest achievement and my most embarrassing incident as a police officer. I did not interpret it to mean the most traumatic. The embarrassing moment that flashed in my mind was that fall on my first day in uniform.

"Nothing about Hillsborough embarrasses me. I didn't think of Hillsborough when the question was posed, I still believe it to be tangential. Humour was an approach that I adopted to that part of the question."

Mr Prendergast added: "I find it hard to believe that a major catastrophe was not the issue you would most wish to forget."

Phil Hammond, whose 14-year-old son Philip was one of the youngest to die at Hillsborough, said yesterday: "Well that's Norman Bettison all over. He doesn't think; he just ploughs ahead.

"The day he came down to the police authority he was just all smiles, as though nothing had happened. He should have been prosecuted. He needs to pay for what he has done wrong."

Ms Eagle said: "This is in line with Bettison's attitude towards Hillsborough. His application was very cleverly written, and did not make any reference either to him being at the ground on the day or his involvement afterwards."

Sir Norman's resignation came two days after Ms Eagle accused him in Parliament of boasting about making up false stories to blame Liverpool supporters for the Hillsborough disaster while he was serving with South Yorkshire police.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is undertaking two investigations into Sir Norman, issued a statement saying: "Retirement or resignation does not prevent criminal prosecution should the investigation identify criminal offences, including misconduct in a public office."

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Police arrest fans prior to Ajax v Man City game

Amsterdam police made 25 arrests during the build-up to Ajax's Champions League clash at home to Manchester City.

Fans of both clubs clashed in the city and the arrests were made for public violence offences, a spokesman confirmed, after troubled flared around 5pm.

"There have been 25 arrests before the Champions League match for public violence, mostly in the red light district," the spokeswoman said. "Police first took action at 5pm. Most of the fans that have been arrested are from Ajax.

"The city centre was very busy but now as the match approached it is getting calmer and more quiet as the fans head to the stadium. We were aware that it would be busy before and after the match and we had deployed extra police to deal with this.

"We hope that it will remain calm after the match."

Police chief 'boasted' about smearing Liverpool fans in Hillsborough disaster

A West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable "boasted" about smearing Liverpool fans in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, a senior Labour MP has claimed.

 

Sir Norman Bettison, who was a chief inspector with South Yorkshire Police at the time of the 1989 tragedy, said he had been asked to help "concoct" the force's version of events, it is claimed.

Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle used parliamentary privilege to make the allegations, which were based on new evidence from a witness who discussed the disaster with Sir Norman.

Ms Eagle, a Merseyside MP, said Sir Norman had "always denied any involvement in the dirty tricks campaign".

But she alleged he was behind the "black propaganda" campaign.

 Hillsborough: '1,400 police named' 

The police watchdog has been given the names of more than 1,400 officers as it investigates South Yorkshire Police's role in the Hillsborough tragedy in which 96 Liverpool fans died, MPs have been told.

Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz said the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) received the names from the force's top officer.

Mr Vaz added: "The South Yorkshire chief constable wrote to me on Friday to say he sent a list of 1,444 names of former and serving officers of South Yorkshire to the IPCC. This is a huge number of names - more than we expected."

Ninety-six Liverpool FC fans died following the crush at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium in April 1989.

The "thorough and wide-ranging" IPCC probe will focus on "potential criminality and police misconduct in respect of police officers, both both serving and retired", Home Secretary Theresa May said.

She was opening a Commons debate on the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report, which last month revealed some fans could have survived if emergency services had responded sooner, and blamed police for an official cover-up designed to smear innocent supporters.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve last week asked the High Court to consider ordering fresh inquests into the 96 deaths.

Prime Minister David Cameron apologised to grieving families for the "double injustice" of their relatives dying in the disaster and their names being blackened for 23 years.

Mrs May told MPs: "After the truth must come justice and after the apology, accountability."