Flag of group considered to be a terrorist organisation in Europe and America displayed at Glasgow Celtic vs Atletico Madrid match

The group in question is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Some videos have circulated online purporting to show members taking place in the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel; the News Letter has not yet confirmed these, and is seeking to do so.

The group is not, however, proscribed in the UK (only its cousin, the PLFP-GC, is proscribed).

Given last night’s match was played at Edinburgh, it is unlikely police action over those flags will be forthcoming.

The flag has made an appearance at recent demonstrations in Northern Ireland; see here –

• Israel-Palestine latest: Nazi SS symbols appear at Northern Ireland protest against Israeli bombing / blockade of Gaza

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the USA says the PFLP was involved in the last major Palestinian intifada (uprising) from 2000 to 2005, when it carried out suicide attacks. Most recently, it killed an Israeli teen and injured multiple others in a 2019 attack.

The office says: “It combines Arab nationalism with Marxist-Leninist ideology, viewing the destruction of Israel as integral to the struggle to remove Western capitalism from the Middle East and ultimately establish a Communist Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital...

"As of July 2022, the PFLP, along with HAMAS and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, were taking steps to create a National Liberation Front in an attempt to address ‘internal divisions’ and to cooperate with and to rebuild the PLO.”

It has been outlawed in the EU since at least 2009, and in the USA since 1997.

The PFLP plays a very small role in the Palestinian Legislative Council, where it holds three out of 132 seats.

The European Council on Foreign Relations says the group "opposes a two-state solution and instead calls for the creation of a democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine through armed struggle".

It adds that "the group’s armed military wing, known as the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, is particularly active in Gaza where it has fought against Israel alongside Hamas and PIJ militants".

More on this subject from this reporter:

• Chapter and verse on the Courtney Carey case: Irish woman posts defiant message and indicates she has a 'strong case' after losing job at global tech firm Wix following comments about Israel

• Derry City and Strabane District Council passes motion calling for Israeli ambassadors to be expelled – on same day MPs in Commons insist such calls must end

• Leo Varadkar launches jabs at 'the misleader' Mary Lou McDonald suggesting her style is unsuited to job of taoiseach and telling her: 'You cannot be pigheaded'

The most recent iteration of UEFA’s Disciplinary Regulations (published in 2022) states that “all associations and clubs are liable for the following inappropriate behaviour on the part of their supporters and may be subject to disciplinary measures and directives even if they can prove the absence of any negligence in relation to the organisation of the match”.

This includes pitch invasions, the use of fireworks, throwing things, vandalism, “causing a disturbance during national anthems”, and “the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit a provocative message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly provocative messages that are of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature”.