John Swinney has condemned the violence that followed yesterday's Old Firm clash, calling it "completely and utterly unacceptable".
Disorder broke out after Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox between Rangers and Celtic, which ended in a penalty shootout win for the visitors.
Scotland’s First Minister said: "The violence after the Old Firm game yesterday at Ibrox was completely and utterly unacceptable – there is no justification for it whatsoever.
"There was severe danger applied to fans and to police officers and to stewards; it was completely unacceptable in every respect."
He said he fully backed officers in tracking down those responsible and pledged to work with the clubs and the Scottish FA to prevent a repeat.
John Swinney continued: "I want to make clear the police have my full support in pursuing everyone involved in this incident.
"We will work constructively with the clubs – who must be horrified by the scenes they witnessed – and with the Scottish Football Association to ensure these types of incidents have no place in Scottish football."
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, an MSP for Glasgow, condemned those involved as acting for "very, very selfish reasons".
He said a "small group of idiots" had tried to ruin it for everyone else and "clearly has very, very selfish reasons and doesn’t actually care about either the club they claim to support, or wider Scottish football or indeed Scotland’s reputation".
He added: "I just think it's abhorrent and shameful, to be frank."
Stuart Murphy, chief executive of the Scottish Football Fans Association, told BBC Radio Scotland he was "angry on behalf of the majority of all decent fans", describing the scenes as a "debacle".
He said: "The majority of all decent fans… will all feel tarnished and stained by that debacle yesterday, which is the only way to describe it."
Chief Superintendent Kate Stephen of Police Scotland branded the behaviour of a number of supporters "shameful".
She continued: "It must be condemned by everyone involved in football and wider society."
She confirmed that some fans had arrived armed with objects intended to cause harm, leading to injuries among officers and members of the public.
One slogan read: "66 not enough."
This was the first match in years in which Celtic fans occupied the full Broomloan Stand, after Scottish Cup rules required a higher away allocation.
In the aftermath, former SFA chief executive and ex-Rangers player Gordon Smith told BBC Radio Scotland he would consider banning away fans from future Old Firm fixtures.
He said: "I think that might be one of the rules that comes in now – when Rangers and Celtic are playing at home, there will be no away fans allowed in.
"I definitely would be looking at that and saying what causes the trouble is when away fans are there.
"If there had been no away fans at the game yesterday, you wouldn't have had anything like that at all."
Gordon Strachan has called for a ban on away fans at Glasgow derbies.
Reflecting on this, the former Celtic boss, Strachan, expressed his concerns about the continuing turmoil he believes is inherent to these fixtures.
He said: "I was personally happy when there was just one set of supporters in the stadium during the Old Firm.
"I know I'm in the minority—and people will argue that the atmosphere is not the same—but is it worth it giving what we saw yesterday?
"You're putting police and staff at risk and you've got fans running onto the pitch to attack people working there."
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