Scottish Football Fans Wave Palestinian Flag in Israel-Celtic Game

Celtic fans may face penalties since UEFA has a strict rule against political expression.

Scottish football fans waving Palestinian flag in a match between Celtic FC and Beersheba. (Photo Courtesy: Celtic Fans for Palestine)

If there is an award for a politically active audience for football matches, it would go to the Scots.

In a match between the Scottish Glasgow Celtic and Israeli Beersheba football teams hundreds of fans displayed Palestinian flags to protest against the forceful occupation of Palestine by Israeli forces.

Despite a ban on bringing flags to the stadium, the protest was planned a week in advance, Middle East Eye reported. More than 800 people joined a Facebook group titled “Fly the flag for Palestine, for Celtic, for Justice”.

Messages of protest against the Israel’s occupation of Palestine. (Photo Courtesy: Celtic Fans for Palestine)

The motive behind the protest, as explained by the Facebook group read:

In support of the Palestinians we Celtic fans invoke our democratic rights to display our opposition to Israeli Apartheid, settler – colonialism and countless massacres of the Palestinian people, such as the one carried out in besieged Gaza in the summer of 2014 by showing the Palestinians and the world where we stand. We stand for justice, for freedom and end to all forms of racism and oppression.

Referring to the history of Celtic nations, the introduction said that support for Palestinian independence stems from the same ideology that made Celtics the Irish resistance against the British rule.

Celtic fans may face penalties from UEFA due to the protest since the the European governing body has a strict rule against political expression, but some fans said that they were more than ready to pay the fine.

…when someone is representing Israeli state institutions it is sadly never merely a game…

Fly the flag for Palestine, for Celtic, for Justice

(Source: Middle East Eye)