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Scotland’s Shame: “This was a shameful exercise in bigotry, law breaking with complete disregard for public safety”

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The scenes we have witnessed at Ibrox, George Square in Glasgow, Larkhall and some other areas in Scotland show the present Scottish Government’s grasp of ‘Law and Order’to be a shambolic disgrace. We have witnessed and so has media throughout the World witnessed, disgraceful scenes where the Legal guidelines on COVID -19 restrictions have been flouted and wrecked in an exercise of bigotry and hooliganism.

These were indeed Scotland’s days of infamy and shame because what was on display was not just football fans celebrating their team winning a trophy. This was a shameful exercise in bigotry, law breaking and a general display of a lack of regard for public safety.

The Bobby Lennox statue in Saltcoats.

Yet we hear that only a handful of arrests were made and also, only a token number of ‘Fixed Penalty fines’ were issued. This is despite :- Anti- Catholic/Anti-Irish banners being hung on motorway bridges; A video of a Rangers fan performing a sex act on himself outside Ibrox Stadium and theRangers manager hanging out of an Ibrox window encouraging fans (Trump-Style) to break the law. This is all despite two meetings having taken place with Police Authorities and the Scottish Government telling theRangers Football club that this type of behaviour would not be tolerated.

It would therefore appear that Police Scotland were extremely lenient in their approach to these incidents or was it that they simply decided not to apply their legal responsibility over these two days?

What the repercussions might be to public health only time will tell. What the effect might be on Anti-bigotry campaigns is irretrievable and a whole lot of work by agencies and decent people has been torn asunder, in two days of mindless mayhem.

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For the Scottish Government now to only make statements of how terrible these scenes were and hope that ‘time will be a great healer’ and the general public will soon forget what happened, will no longer work . The voting public are still awaiting a statement from Holyrood on five of theRangers players who also broke lockdown Rules and one of these players was able to represent theRangers in a European Cup-tie.

The public will also want to know why Police Scotland’s officers physically chased some Celtic supporters down streets adjacent to Celtic Park to make arrests, after a minority of Celtic supporters staged a protest outside of Celtic Park. This in complete contrast to this weekend’s incidents that were treated in such a lenient manner.

Had these scenes been perpetrated by a ‘hooligan minority’ within theRangers support, then the whole episode of law breaking might have been excusable. Television footage however, showed theRangers management and players to be complicit in these shameful scenes. Had these fans wished to celebrate their team’s success in a reasonable fashion, Ibrox stadium could have been opened and these fans could have celebrated in an organised, SOCIALLY DISTANT manner. These scenes however showed a level of lawlessness which was more than football fans celebrating their teams success.

These scenes shocked and angered many decent citizens and not only those of Celtic persuasion or those of an Irish background. Decent people who witnessed these scenes immediately thought of the colossal amount of public money which has been spent trying to bring Covid-19 under control. They also thought about the effort and lives lost in the NHS again trying to control the spread of this deadly virus. Only to see their efforts treated with utter disdain and to see their efforts eliminated by mindless fools.

If Police Scotland allow these disgraceful events to go unpunished and no retrospective action is taken they should then refund every Fixed Penalty fine to every member of the public who broke Covid -19 Regulations. The reason for this action being that Police Scotland’s response was totally disproportionate to what was happening on our streets and on our television screens. The Scottish government must also show a strong hand and not only condemn these events but take action to show that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated in a civilised society. Their responsibility is to show that Laws must be obeyed and justice must be served in an even handed manner. Failure to be pro-active in responding to the scenes we all witnessed could have disastrous consequences in their attempt to secure a majority in the May Elections.

Francis G. Thompson

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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2 Comments

  1. John Fallon on

    where”s the video”s of OUR fans protesting against board, when same police pushing barriers goading then spray pepper spray, as usual we were called eejits and blame them

  2. Jim O'Rourke on

    Any Celtic fan who would be thinking about voting SNP in future elections i would ask you to think about how our club and Aberdeen were treated in contast to what the rangers have been allowed to get away with regarding the laws with covid 19.