Celtic supporters group The Green Brigade unveiled a banner protesting the potential appointment of Bernard Higgins as security chief at Celtic Park.
Multiple fan groups, including The Green Brigade and The Celtic Trust, released a statement on Friday to set out their reasons for today’s protest, which also included 30 minutes of silence without songs or chants during today’s game.
And today they made their thoughts clear on the matter with an emphatic display prior to the kick-off of the Scottish Premiership clash.
Their reasons were also printed onto flyers that were handed out to fans pre-match, which read in part: “We have recently been made aware that Bernard Higgins of Police Scotland is likely to be appointed to a senior security role at Celtic.
“Higgins played a major part in the vicious implementation of the much-hated Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act and passionately defended the legislation within the Scottish Parliament.
“As Assistant Chief Constable, Higgins’ remit involved strategic decisions on the policing of football across Scotland, and he used this power to orchestrate a campaign of intimidation against the Celtic support.”
The club have not yet commented on the matter, but it’s clear there is a real strength of feeling about this matter that they can’t ignore forever.
The half-hour song silence was respected by almost the entire support this afternoon and the banner was applauded by fans. So it’s clear there is a broad understanding of the point these groups are trying to make.
In the 30th minute, Paradise erupted into a chorus of popular club anthem “Let The People Sing”.
In other news, Kris Boyd clearly wound up by fantastic Celtic run.
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