An attorney for the Scottish National Party has said that the new hate crime legislation would need the arrest of all football fans at a stadium to be implemented.
Before Sunday’s game, neither government officials nor the Scottish FA (SFA) had discussed the Act’s impact on football matches, and police had not received any new instructions. A former law professor and head of legal at BBC Scotland, Alistair Bonnington, proposed that this statute may include religious hatred.
Thomas Ross KC said that after this weekend’s match, Celtic supporters will denounce sectarian music chanted by the home crowd as a hate crime to Police Scotland. Ally McCoist came under fire this week for his ‘madness’ allegation that the hate crime law would require the arrest of 48,000 Rangers fans, including himself.
If the government has instructed the police to crack down severely on “hatred or prejudice,” then the Scottish Premiership and the Scottish Football Association are reportedly in the dark about what to anticipate on Sunday. Celtic and Rangers supporters have been known to display insulting banners, sing sectarian chants, and hang effigies during previous matches. According to Thomas Ross KC, supporters may try to use the new rules to their advantage.
According to him, the match will probably lead to complaints over suspected violations of the new laws. However, he thinks the law is too confusing to warrant prosecutions at football games or anywhere else.
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser accused Police Scotland of “making it up as they go” after anomalies arose in the recording of the country’s hate crime statutes.
According to Francis Fraser, who is contemplating legal action, Police Scotland’s judgment was politically biased because the police treated remarks made by the SNP first minister differently from those made by an opposition figure. He is pleading with the chief constable to apologize immediately for filing a hate crime report against him and for destroying all documents pertaining to the matter.
