POLICE have launched an investigation into Saturday's Old Firm fixture after a toilet block at Celtic Park was vandalised and hanged effigies were suspended from a tier inside the stadium.
The scenes have been described as "hugely disappointing" by senior officers who previously reported that only one football fan had been arrested during the game in which Celtic defeated Rangers 5-1.
But following the first league clash between the teams in four years, pictures emerged on social media of a toilet block that appeared to have been smashed to pieces by the travelling Rangers support.
Celtic supporters also came under fire for producing a banner which read "Hun Scum" and dangling two plastic effigies with hands tied behind their backs in the manner of an execution from the upper tier of the Jock Stein Stand.
The hanging blow up dolls adorned with Rangers scarves could be seen at the start of the live TV coverage of the match as the players took to the pitch.
Rival fans have disputed the significance of the stunt with some suggesting it was making reference to Rangers FC liquidation in 2012, but others emphasised that it coincided with World Suicide Prevention Day.
Bernard Higgins, Assistant Chief Constable for Justice and Support, said: "The overwhelming majority of those who attended the Celtic v Rangers game behaved responsibly and appeared to heed the advice given in the run up to the fixture.
"What is hugely disappointing and frustrating is that a minority of individuals behaved in a manner which has no place in our communities, football and modern society and which has resulted in Police Scotland carrying out investigations to identify those responsible."
A spokesman for Rangers FC described the effigies as a "disgraceful and sickening" act.
He said: "It was a vile and insensitive stunt which, understandably, has attracted widespread condemnation.
“This was a new low but there were other unacceptable images which were also deeply offensive to Rangers supporters."
It follows a call form Rangers supporters group Club 1872 to ban Celtic fans from Ibrox after what it described as "overtly sectarian" displays.
A Celtic FC spokesman said the club would not become embroiled in a "tit for tat spat"/
"We will deal with all issues arising in a proper and professional manner in line with our well established policies," he said.
At the weekend a Police Scotland spokeswoman said no criminal complaint had been made about the toilet damage and the matter was currently being dealt with internally by Celtic.
But Police Scotland has now confirmed that an investigation will be launched into the vandalism.
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 hereComments are closed on this article