Police closed off roads as part of a "proportionate" response to thousands of Celtic fans gathering in part of Glasgow City Centre for an unofficial street party.
Thousands of supporters have thronged into the Trongate area of Merchant City to celebrate their team winning the Scottish Premier League title.
The trophy was presented to the team at Celtic Park after they beat St Mirren 3-2, bringing the curtain down on the football league season. A cup final with rivals Rangers is still to come.
Glasgow City Council had already appealed for calm, urging fans to "celebrate safely" ahead of an expected influx of people in high spirits after their team clinched its third title in as many years.
In 2023, the area was filled with fans who left behind piles of rubbish, requiring an overnight clean-up operation.
Though mostly good-natured, ten people were arrested while three were seriously assaulted, with a 31-year-old man being taken to hospital in serious condition.
READ MORE: The smoke clears and Celtic emerge as champions...again
The amount of refuse left behind led to calls for the club to foot the bill, or to organise its own celebrations away from public areas.
Pictures from the scene on Saturday show jubilant fans in party mood, though some had begun to climb on street sigs to drape banners and let of flares.
High temperatures have been blanketing Glasgow all day, with the result that some run the risk of heatstroke if they do not hydrate efficiently.
READ MORE: 'Justice for Santa' - Why Father Christmas handed Celtic the SPL Trophy
Police Scotland warned Glasgow city centre is likely to be busier on Saturday as fans gather in the city to celebrate Celtic's title win.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We're working closely with partners and will have a proportionate policing plan in place to maintain public safety and minimise disruption to the community."
Writing on the social media site X, Glasgow city council said: "Glasgow is a football city - and proud to be home to some of the biggest teams in the game.
"Fans support their club, whatever the result - and when they win, celebrations are to be savoured. However, when things get out of hand there can be a negative impact on other Glaswegians and for visitors to our city.
"In recent year many people have felt uncomfortable and even unsafe when supporters have congregated in places like Trongate or George Square to celebrate.”
The statement added an appeal for calm, saying: "Residents and businesses have had to deal with the aftermath of littering, vandalism and other antisocial behaviour once the crowds have headed home.
"As this season reaches its conclusion over the next two weekends, we want everyone to be able to celebrate safely, responsibly and with consideration for others.
"Whoever you support, whatever the results - enjoy yourself but please respect the city."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel