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FIVE Celtic fans were last night jailed over shameful scenes before the club’s match with Ajax.

But the five – who had denied all charges – immediately gave notice they planned to appeal against the verdicts.

Six fans had gone on trial in Amsterdam accused of attacking police as battles broke out in the city’s Dam Square.

The court sat late last night before five were found guilty and the sixth, 49-year-old grandad John Quigley, acquitted.

Judge Jurgen Piena rejected the fans’ claims that undercover cops had not identified themselves properly and they feared they were under attack from Ajax casuals.

In his judgment, he ruled that police had used violence but that it was not excessive in the circumstances.

Padraig Mullan, 28, from Belfast, and Damian Dobbin, 23, a bricklayer from Hamilton, were both jailed for two months for punching police officers.

Jozef Macpherson, 20, a kitchen worker from Glasgow, was convicted of holding an officer by the neck and given one month.

Andrew Vance, 21, from Blantyre, Lanarkshire, and Thomas Kennedy, 30, a window cleaner from Lanarkshire, were both convicted of throwing a can and received six weeks each.

(Image: Daily Record)

All of the men were ordered released pending their appeal, which could take up to a year to come to court.

Clothes shop supervisor Mullan and Vance, who have spent 13 days in pre-trial custody, will have their sentences discounted due to time served.

They were due to be freed this morning after processing at the jail where they were held. The other four refused to comment as they walked free from Amsterdam’s district court.

When the verdict was read out, all five seemed visibly shocked and Vance put his head on the table and cried.

Defence lawyer Christian Visser said: “Obviously I’m very happy about Padraig and Andy being released. But I am disappointed with the jail sentences.

"I am also very disappointed the judge didn’t take police brutality into account.”

Calling for an investigation of the police conduct, he went on: “This whole event has been bad for Amsterdam.

“It is known for being a liberal city but on the night police behaved in a way only hooligans do.”

Judge Piena ruled that Ajax fans, some of whom stole a flag from the Celtic supporters, started the trouble before the clubs’ Champions League clash on November 6.

He said the away supporters might have been “on edge” because of this but they should have left when the trouble started instead of getting involved.

According to live tweets from the court by Kerem Canatan, a colleague of Visser, Judge Piena said: “They should have left when the violence started. But they did not. They used violence against the police.”

The judge said he would not impose harsher sentences just because the victims were policemen – conceding that the fans may not have known this.

Canatan tweeted that the judge had ruled the violence used by police was not excessive “due to the chaos and circumstances”.

Earlier, the fans had told the court they believed they were under attack from Ajax hooligans as violence broke out in the centre of Amsterdam.

And they were unaware that the men who had sprung on them without warning were undercover police officers.

Defence lawyer Visser claimed the officers did not identify themselves properly – and a fellow cop attacked them because he mistook them for football casuals.

Dobbin said in evidence he believed he had been stabbed as he came under attack.

Dobbin said: “Six or seven men who we thought were hooligans came from out of nowhere. All we did was fight for our lives.

“I was on the ground, my shirt ripped and covered in blood, I thought I had been stabbed. They never said they were police. They didn’t show any badges.”

He added he had seen co-accused Mullan, 28, being brutally attacked. He said: “Even if these men said they were police – which they didn’t – I could still see Padraig out the corner of my eye being seriously assaulted.

(Image: Imago/Barcroft Media)

“In my opinion, police officers are supposed to arrest people, not assault them. Their job is to calm the situation and I think they failed miserably.”

There were cheers from the public gallery, which was packed with friends and family, at his statement.

Mullan also told the court he had no idea the plainclothes officers were police and said he tried to leave the area when others began throwing bottles.

But he ran after one of the undercover officers after he knocked his girlfriend Dawn McAnoy to the ground and attacked another Celtic fan.

He claimed that as he pulled the undercover officer back, he was set upon by other cops.

The court was shown video of Mullan being kneed repeatedly by a number of plainclothes police.

Prosecutor Machiel Woudman said the violence was proportionate as Mullan’s initial offence of attacking an officer was hidden from view behind a van.

The court was packed with journalists not only from Scotland but also Dutch reporters interested in the Celtic fans’ claims of police brutality. The six accused sat at two desks at the front of the courtroom, surrounded by three translators.

Four police officers, including one who was claiming compensation from Dobbin, sat in the courtroom.

Some shifted in their seats as they heard the defendants’ claims of brutality, while others shook their heads.

In his final statement, prosecutor Woudman asked for all the accused to be jailed for two months and said: “All suspects had a significant part in the violence on Dam Square.”