Facebook should shut down sectarian hate page against Celtic’s Neil Lennon

FACEBOOK should shut down a ‘sectarian hate page’ on its site targeting Glasgow Celtic FC manager Neil Lennon.

The page is titled 'Let's get 100,000 people that want to see Neil Lennon get shot' and come s as bullets have been sent to Lennon and player Niall McGinn in the post from the North of Ireland. Lennon and Celtic players are being subjected to an increasing campaign of abuse and threats., including at Lennon's family home.

Sinn Féin Culture spokesperson Barry McElduff MLA said that hate crimes against Celtic management and players need to be taken seriously:

Over the past few weeks we have seen bullets sent to the Irish manager and players of Celtic Football Club and now we have a hate page on the Facebook website.

The race hate page on Facebook

The players and management of Celtic are professional sportspeople and they should not be singled out for sectarian abuse because of the team that they play for.

He said the PSNI must also take these threats seriously and Facebook must co-operate with the PSNI in helping to identify the people who are “espousing this hate”.

This incitement to hate needs to end and those espousing it must be investigated and brought to book.

UPDATE: After examining the situation on Monday and deciding on taking no action, Facebook reviewed this on Tuesday and the page was removed.