Police have investigated 32 incidents of pyrotechnics or flares being thrown at football matches this season and arrested people linked to 16 clubs for offensive behaviour, a top officer has revealed.
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins urged spectators to report anything that makes them “uncomfortable” at football matches.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “This season so far, we’ve had 32 incidents of pyrotechnics or flares being thrown or discharged at matches. Some of the incidents it’s been three, four, five, six flares that have been thrown.
“That’s a real danger, someone is going to get hurt. We’ve had a couple of real near misses. But it is potentially really quite life-threatening.”
Speaking about sectarian incidents, he said: “Somebody once talked about the 90-minute bigot but there is no such thing.
“If you are sitting at a game and you’re uncomfortable because of something you see or something you hear, the reality is people around you will probably be uncomfortable as well.
“That’s unacceptable. What I would urge you to do is go and report it to the steward or go and report it to a police officer.”
He added: “We’ve arrested people associated with 16 different clubs in Scotland.
“So, it’s not exclusive to the Old Firm, it’s not exclusive to the top flight. That’s 16 clubs right the way through all divisions.”