Independent advisory group backs Police Scotland over Rangers fans’ celebrations
BBC Scotland journalist Chris McLaughlin has relayed what a national independent police advisory group has said about Police Scotland’s handling of Rangers’ title celebrations earlier this month.
Rangers fans took to the streets of Glasgow to celebrate the club’s 55th title success on March 7 after Celtic drew 0-0 with Dundee United.
Since then, all sorts of threats and criticisms have been aimed at the Gers while First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was among those to hit out at supporters.
Police arrested 28 people after thousands of fans celebrated Steven Gerrard’s team winning the Premiership and it seems the police’s handling of the crowds was acceptable.
McLaughlin shared the advisory group’s statement via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday.
He said: “A national Independent police advisory group says Police Scotland’s handling of mass gatherings in Glasgow following Rangers’ title win, was ‘consistent with human rights principles..necessary and proportionate.’.”
Expected.
Ever since Rangers won the title, it’s been one bad news story after the next.
Gers fans were painted out as public enemy number one in the wake of the title-winning celebrations with what seemed like every single politician speaking out about them.
Yes, they should not have done it due to the COVID lockdown but it’s hardly the first time we’ve seen football fans congregate to celebrate success in the last year. Or, as Celtic did, demand people are sacked from their jobs.
We’ve also had the events of last Thursday when Glen Kamara and Kemar Roofe were allegedly racially abused.
It’s definitely taken a bit of shine off the title win because we’ve been outraged at some of the things said and done about the incidents.
We just want a quiet end to the season now, to be honest.
However there’s bound to be fall-out from both the celebrations and the alleged racist incidents in the coming weeks.
In other Rangers news, a Czech journalist has made huge claims about Gerrard’s approach to the Slavia Prague second leg.