The Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters have today released a short statement regarding the very concerning scenes that somewhat marred Sunday’s victory over our Glasgow Rivals.
The terrifying incident occurred before kick-off when thousands of Celtic fans were involved in a crush outside the north stand with some even climbing to higher ground to escape it.
The footage which has been shared on social media shows Celtic fans crammed in behind the stands with nowhere to go and not a police officer in sight.
On Sunday, straight after the game, the club released an ill-advised statement praising the work of Police Scotland before any facts were considered.
Since then there seems to be an agency by Police Scotland to absolve themselves of any blame in the matter leading many fans to criticise the current handling of the situation.
The Affiliation has been unanimous in asking for a completely independent investigation in what went wrong before Sunday’s game and who has to take the responsibility for five injured fans.
They wrote:
‘Representatives of all the main Celtic supporters organisations met tonight with representatives of the club to discuss the events of Sunday.
‘There was discussions on the kind of information that is needed in terms of working out what happened, why and what needs to be done to stop this from happening again.
‘All groups were united in calling for a full independent, robust and transparent review where all parties including fans will be heard and the appropriate lessons learned.’
my son from Dublin was attending his first derby game without me in tow.He is 18 and had a disturbing set of encounters with Police Scotland in immediate aftermath of game. He emerged from Lisbon Lions stand intending to head to Gallowgate via tunnel under North Stand. His plan was to get train to Queen St from Bellgrove.Police would not let him enter tunnel nor was he allowed to walk along London Rd in city direction.
He and pal were forced to walk by police as far as Celtic social club at Barrowfield. Later route along London Rd
towards City was cleared by police. My son and pal proceeded to walk along same in city direction. Whilst walking along they encountered a number of police men to whom my son politely asked directions to the Gallowgate. The response of the law enforcement officer in question was incredibly”Ive never heard of it pal”. An extraordinary response from a policeman on match duty who would have noted the Celtic scarves on the boys an surely knew that Celtic buses travel along Gallowgate by the hundreds and therefore surely
knew where Gallowgate was.So onwards the boys walked and met more of Scotlands finest to whom they asked the same directions. An equally unhelpful response was elicited which included a n advice to walk through Bridgeton.The boys eventually got out of area despite the “assistance” of police. What was a joyous
match day experience for the boys was somewhat diminished by suspiciously racist attitudes of police as set out above.