A POLICE officer was injured after the window of a police van was broken by a brick, the Justice Secretary has said as he branded lawless scenes in Dundee “appalling”.

Keith Brown revealed how one police injury had been sustained as he addressed concerns from local MSPs about “war-like” scenes in the Kirkton area of the city on Monday night.

Louts threw fireworks at police officers, blocked roads with burning bins and hurled rocks at residents’ cars in what Dundee’s council leader John Alexander said were “scenes that you’d expect in an action movie or war-torn nation”.

The matter was raised in Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon, with Brown saying local police, the fire service and the council were working to prevent similar incidents taking place in the run-up to Bonfire Night.

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He said: “The disorder in Dundee last night was appalling and wholly unacceptable. The impact on the community and indeed on emergency services will have been, of course, extremely distressing.”

Brown provided detail on reports a police officer was injured during the ruckus, adding: “There was one injury last night and that was to a police officer from shards of glass through a brock being put through a police vehicle.

“That shows how serious the situation was.”

Asda has told local Dundee MSP Joe Fitzpatrick that it has banned firework sales entirely from its three shops in the city during “this sales period”.

Michael Marra, Labour MSP for the north east of Scotland, said Tesco had given him similar assurances. 

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Fitzpatrick, who represents west Dundee and lives in the area, told of his “shock” at the scenes which he described as “terrifying”.

Brown fended off calls from Conservative MSP Maurice Golden, who represents the north-east of Scotland, to change a firework licencing scheme which is not yet fully in force.

He said a key “flaw” in the law was that those convicted of anti-social behaviour offences did not need to disclose this when applying for a firework licence, as he urged the Scottish Government to fix this in light of Monday’s events.

Brown refused the MSP's demands saying the law would help deter people from repeating the events of Monday night once fully in force. 

Chief Superintendent Phil Davison said: “Throwing fireworks and other items towards emergency services is reckless and dangerous. No one should go to work and expect to be attacked.

“One officer suffered a minor injury and damage was caused to a school and a number of vehicles.

“I would like to reassure the public of Dundee that we remain committed to keeping them safe as we understand last night’s behaviour must have been really distressing for residents in the areas.

“We have a range of highly-trained public order officers available to policing commanders across Scotland to enhance resources and deal with any issues that arise. Officers will be patrolling the local areas to provide public reassurance."