UEFA has fined the Scottish membership after its followers waved 1000’s of Palestinian flags throughout the match towards Atletico Madrid final month.
Scotland’s Celtic Soccer Membership has been fined $19,000 after its fans waved Palestinian flags throughout a Champions League match towards Atletico Madrid final month, UEFA has mentioned.
The match, which passed off on the membership’s dwelling floor Celtic Park in Glasgow, noticed 1000’s of followers wave the Palestine flag and show banners supporting the folks of Gaza amid Israel’s warfare on the besieged strip.
The governing physique of soccer in Europe deemed the flags to be “provocative messages of an offensive nature” in an announcement on Wednesday.
Followers, who had been warned by the Scottish membership to not show flags earlier than the October 25 recreation, could possibly be heard singing “You’ll By no means Stroll Alone” whereas holding the Palestinian flags in a video shared extensively on social media.
As kickoff neared, the stadium reworked right into a sea of Palestinian flags, each stand awash with the colors of Palestine in a present of solidarity with these in Gaza underneath Israeli assault.
Supporters additionally unfurled two massive banners at Celtic Park that learn “Free Palestine” and “Victory to the Resistance”.
The principle flag bearers, actually and figuratively, have been the Green Brigade – an “ultras” group fashioned in 2006, famend for his or her Irish Republicanism and unflinching help for the Palestinian trigger.
Terrified of penalties, the membership urged followers to not heed the Inexperienced Brigade’s name to point out help for Palestine on the match, releasing an announcement asking “that banners, flags and symbols regarding the battle and people international locations concerned in it will not be displayed at Celtic Park at the moment”.
Just a few days previous to the match, in an obvious warning to the group, Celtic banned the Inexperienced Brigade from all away video games. Following the show towards Atletico Madrid, that ban has been prolonged to all dwelling video games.
In a letter to followers, the membership outlined a number of causes for the ban, together with anti-social behaviour, the usage of pyrotechnics and crucially “towards Atletico Madrid, one other unauthorised show, breaching the restrictions beforehand communicated”.
The membership was additionally fined $12,550 for followers blocking passageways and utilizing pyrotechnics.
Followers say help for Palestine will proceed
For the Inexperienced Brigade, there’s little doubt that it was the show of solidarity with Palestine which led to a ban on their attendance.
“The opposite points are a smokescreen,” the Green Brigade told Al Jazeera earlier this month.
“The membership are very intelligent and cynical. They wish to sanction us, they wish to punish us. They wish to ship us a message to attempt to maintain us in line and deter us from doing additional motion.
“However they know very effectively that on the problem of Palestine, they’re not on sturdy floor as they don’t have loads of help amongst the broader fanbase on that concern. In order that they’re utilizing different points that they assume they may have help on to sanction us.”
The group mentioned they have been “unashamed of and unequivocal of our help for Palestine” and insisted that it’ll proceed.
“And as soon as once more the broader Celtic help confirmed that they too had the braveness and conviction to face and be counted. To aspect with the best aspect of historical past and voice help for the underdog, which on this case is the Palestinians.”