Celtic join Scottish Catholics in call for crackdown on sectarian attacks

Neil Lennon sent bullet through the post hours after assault at Tynecastle as two men arrested over letter bombs Celtic Football Club and senior Scottish Catholics have demanded decisive action to combat sectarian bigotry in the country after it was discovered the team’s manager had been sent a a bullet though the post hours after he was assaulted at a game. Police were called to Celtic’s stadium in Glasgow to deal with the package on Thursday morning, hours after the incident at a match in Edinburgh with Heart of Midlothian. It is understood to have been addressed to Lennon and is being examined by forensic experts. Lennon, a Northern Irish Catholic, has been the target of abuse, threats and even a letter bomb in recent months as the sectarian problem in central Scotland has reached boiling point. He has already been sent packages containing bullets by Loyalist hardliners in Northern Ireland. And in a separate development, two men were arrested in Ayrshire after a series of raids in connection with an investigation into the sending of letter bombs to Lennon and other prominent Catholics in March and April. The two men, named as Neil McKenzie, 41, and Trevor Muirhead, 43, were arrested and held in police custody overnight under the Explosive Substances Act 1883, after being detained in dawn raids on homes in the towns of Kilwinning and Saltcoats. A number of others are said to be helping police with their inquiries. Meanwhile, , a Hearts fan named as John Wilson, 26, from Edinburgh, has appeared in court charged with assault and breach of the peace aggravated by religious prejudice for allegedly striking Lennon during a league fixture at Tynecastle on Wednesday night. Wilson made no plea and was remanded. Earlier this week, seven people were in court on firearms offences, for allegedly possessing an imitation gun outside Celtic’s training ground. Peter Lawwell, Celtic’s chief executive, said: “We are the only club to be the subject of such vile, sustained and relentless attacks. . It is intolerable that any football club, or individual, going about their lawful business in the name of sport should be subjected to this ongoing campaign of hatred and intimidation. “This is Scotland’s shame and it is high time Scotland addressed it.” A spokesman for Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Scotland’s most senior Catholic, said the church would be intensifying pressure on the new government to honour an election pledge to produce more detailed statistics on sectarian offences in Scotland. Figures from the Crown Office, show there are at least 600 convictions each year for sectarian offences. A study in 2006 showed Catholics were six times more likely to be victims than Protestants. The Crown Office has commissioned a new study but has resisted pressure to publish detailed annual figures. Celtic Scotland Scottish Premier League Catholicism Hearts Religion Christianity Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 12, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.