Black Friday Tesco shoppers charged with assault over Manchester chaos

Three men have been charged over Black Friday chaos at Tesco, where shoppers battled each other for bargains.

Police made the arrests over incidents at separate stores in Greater Manchester last week, when shoppers descended to buy discounted goods.

One man has been charged with trying to punch a police officer during the scramble to the shelves.

Tesco was criticised in the aftermath of the Black Friday violence by the city's top police officer Sir Peter Fahy. He called the ugly scenes "entirely predictable."

One of the charges relates to an incident in a branch of the supermarket in Ardwick, where a man and a woman brawled over a television set. Andrew Anderson, 42, has been charged with assault by beating.

At a separate store in Burnage, John Ankers, 45, allegedly made threats which caused other bargain hunters to fear violence and attempted to hit a police officer.

A third man, Michael Dowd, 28, has been charged after a victim was bitten on the arm and staff threatened at a branch of Tesco in Irlam.

The men are due in court later this month.