Bob Geldof said today that attention should not be paid to the "idiots" involved in yesterday's violent protests, although he thought the focus on them had deflected from his campaign. He urged people "not to get carried away by a couple of political hoolies".
But just how political were they? We had unconfirmed reports from members of the public last night that at least some of yesterday's violence was caused by local people who were not politically motivated, but simply relished a scrap.
"We can confirm that there were some local people involved in the scuffles," a Lothian and Borders police spokeswoman has just told me.
And a reader, James Teideman, emails to say: "Please, please, please can I make the point that there is more trouble in Edinburgh on a normal Saturday night. I'm waiting for the local rag to have a distressed shopper photo and the usual crap about terrorists.
"I'd love to see that many police when Rangers 'fans' come to town. Chucking bricks at buses full of innocent kids? Come to Scotland every weekend. It's called football. I wanted to be proud of Scotland."
