Scotland’s Celtic Football Club has been fined $19,000 after its fans waved Palestinian flags during a Champions League match against Atletico Madrid last month, UEFA has said.
The match, which took place at the club’s home ground Celtic Park in Glasgow, saw thousands of fans wave the Palestine flag and display banners supporting the people of Gaza amid Israel’s war on the besieged strip.
The governing body of football in Europe deemed the flags to be “provocative messages of an offensive nature” in a statement on Wednesday.
Fans, who had been warned by the Scottish club not to display flags before the October 25 game, could be heard singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” while holding the Palestinian flags in a video shared widely on social media.
As kickoff neared, the stadium transformed into a sea of Palestinian flags, every stand awash with the colours of Palestine in a show of solidarity with those in Gaza under Israeli assault.
Supporters also unfurled two large banners at Celtic Park that read “Free Palestine” and “Victory to the Resistance”.
The main flag bearers, literally and figuratively, were the Green Brigade – an “ultras” group formed in 2006, renowned for their Irish Republicanism and unflinching support for the Palestinian cause.
Fearful of penalties, the club urged fans not to heed the Green Brigade’s call to show support for Palestine at the match, releasing a statement asking “that banners, flags and symbols relating to the conflict and those countries involved in it are not displayed at Celtic Park at this time”.
A few days prior to the match, in an apparent warning to the group, Celtic banned the Green Brigade from all away games. Following the display against Atletico Madrid, that ban has been extended to all home games.
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