GREATER Manchester Police assistant chief constable Justine Curran told a press conference that the police's behaviour had been "necessary and proportionate".

Quizzed on whether her officers had over-reacted, she said: "I watched [in command] and saw officers chased up the street by a baying mob of 200 people.

"When trouble breaks out we have to respond.

"The vast majority of people who came experienced light touch policing."

Asked why they had not arranged a park or other open air venue for fans, ACC Curran said their research had showed people would not have been prepared to travel outside the city centre.

ACC Curran said: "We worked hard with our partners in Manchester to make this a celebration and make people feel safe in the city."

She said she had walked the streets of Manchester earlier in the afternoon and had seen people having a good time in a nice atmosphere.

But she added: "I saw when the screen failed in Piccadilly Gardens, which was full with over 20,000 people in it, fans got very frustrated. Obviously some had been drinking a lot and they began to take it out on the screen and then on my officers who had worked incredibly hard to do the best they could. Obviously they have had to respond to the level of violence they were met with."

She said she had been "sickened" by the level of violence she had seen coming from the minority of fans who began causing trouble.

A police source said some officers who began working at 6am in the morning yesterday were still working long into the early hours.