Police, camera, reaction as bishop fumes at ‘hostile’ football security

Philip Tartaglia, the Bishop of Paisley, said he was left feeling “distinctly uncomfortable” after being body searched during a Celtic game and criticised the “hostile” nature of the surveillance of supporters.

Recalling his visit to Celtic’s Scottish Premier League match at Aberdeen’s Pittodrie stadium on 7 August, he said: “We were body searched by stewards under the glare of police, and when we took our seats a police officer started intently filming the Celtic supporters and we were in the middle of them. I felt distinctly uncomfortable.

“The fans had been quiet and good natured, but I could feel the tension growing. It was an unnecessary provocation of a peaceful crowd.

“It was an almost hostile surveillance. It was as if they were saying: ‘We’ve got the power, we can identify you and put you in jail.’ Suddenly, there was a change in the atmosphere and the focus was on the police, instead of the game.”

Bishop Tartaglia, who raised the issue with First Minister Alex Salmond when they met last month, added that police were being put in “an impossible position” and expressed concern that the tactics employed by police and stewards was ostracising fans.

“One of the priests I was with was from a different country and he was completely mystified as to why we were being filmed,” he said. “It felt like an unnecessary intrusion into our privacy. I felt like saying: ‘What are you doing? Go away!’”

Bishop Tartaglia’s comments come as Strathclyde Police admitted that its officers made a “mistake” in confiscating a tartan scarf from a teenage boy at a Celtic match earlier this year. The 16-year-old was wearing a green and purple St Ninian’s scarf, designed to mark the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland last year.

Last week, Bishop Tartaglia warned that Catholics would take “little comfort” from new Crown Office statistics which showed than more than half of all charges brought last year for religiously motivated hate crime involved anti-Catholicism.

Some 58 per cent of the 693 charges reported by police saw Roman Catholicism as the focus of abuse, leading Bishop Tartaglia to brand the figures as “an indicator of entrenched hostility on a worrying scale”.

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said the force made an error in confiscating the scarf during an Old Firm match last season, but declined to comment on Bishop Tartaglia’s wider remarks about the policing of fixtures.

She said: “A scarf was removed from a boy at a football game held at Ibrox and we acknowledge that this was a mistake on our officers’ part.

“This matter was raised at a recent meeting with the Catholic Church and a full explanation was given by police, which was accepted.”

Peter Kearney, director of the Scottish Catholic media office, said: “Bishop Tartaglia and I had a meeting with Assistant Chief Constable Campbell Corrigan and as far as we’re concerned that is the end of the matter.

“Incidents like that and the heightened tension around sectarianism mean it’s very important that the police have as much outside expert input as possible.

“We made an offer to meet with Strathclyde Police’s sectarianism unit, and, to date, it hasn’t been taken up, but we hope it will be.”