A NUMBER of Union flags put up around a Lanarkshire town on Old Firm match weekend are being removed by the council, it has emerged.
Some Rutherglen residents took to social media to issue their complaints over the flags, which had been attached to lampposts and trees around the town’s centre.
According to the council, a Unionist flute band had been given permission to parade through the Cambuslang/Rutherglen area on Saturday – accompanied by a number of other bands, including the “Partick Protestant Boys FB”, “Bridgeton No Surrender FB” and “Cambuslang Brittania FB”.
Why are theses flags still up in Rutherglen? @SouthLanCouncil This is 2022 in Scotland, not 1970’s Northern Ireland. pic.twitter.com/WaHGLPs8wi
— Anonymous Scot (@Scotspeak) April 4, 2022
The flags seem to have appeared around the town ahead of this parade, while they remained up for the Old Firm game the following day.
One Twitter user, Anonymous Scot, expressed concerns over the flags remaining up on Monday morning – writing that this is “2022 in Scotland, not 1970s Northern Ireland”.
In response, South Lanarkshire Council said the issue had been passed on to the area’s road manager.
“We can confirm that permission was granted to Rutherglen Bluebell Flute Band to parade in Rutherglen on Saturday, 2 April 2022,” a spokesperson told The National.
“We are unaware who erected the flags, but we were not asked for permission, and arrangements are being made for their safe removal.”
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On Sunday, Celtic beat Rangers as the clubs clashed at Ibrox – with the second half of the match delayed by broken glass being thrown into the Celtic penalty box. A number of arrests have since been made.
In the wake of the 2-1 game, one Celtic fan was filmed taking to the streets of Rutherglen to remove a number of the flags put up without permission over the weekend.
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