Moment ‘drunk’ Celtic fan punches police officers on flight
This is the moment a ‘drunk’ Celtic fan punched police officers in a shocking brawl on an easyJet flight ‘after downing a bottle of vodka’.
Footage has emerged of a man wearing a Celtic football top hitting other passengers as a scrap breaks out in the aisle of the aircraft, which was flying from Edinburgh to Antalya, Turkey, on Saturday.
The fight is thought to have started towards the end of the flight after another Celtic supporter called the man a ‘disgrace’.
One passenger on the plane said the ‘drunk’ attacker had been trying to get his bag from the overhead compartments during the flight and had had a bottle of Gold Ivy vodka confiscated by staff.
The clip shows the man standing up by his seat and throwing punches at somebody in front of him.
Shocked holidaymakers, including a young girl, watch on as the Celtic fan moves towards the aisle where a group of passengers and aircraft staff attempt to restrain him.
A number of people can be heard screaming as the man tries to push past the crowd.
The football fan pauses the attack for a few moments but then he begins raining more punches, particularly on someone who appears to be a policeman.
One passenger appears to shout, ‘f****** do him’, as the officer tries to push the man to the floor with people standing filming the scene on their phones.
When he finally does so, a number of holidaymakers can be heard reassuring horrified children with one saying, ‘it’s alright, it’s okay’.
At this point, most passengers are standing up and leaning over their seats to see what has happened to the man.
Another video shows the Celtic fan being dragged off while he shouts at other holidaymakers and people cheer loudly from their seats.
One passenger on the aircraft told MailOnline that the man had earlier tried to throw punches at the other Celtic supporter when he called him a ‘disgrace’.
He said: ‘Before he punched the officer he had been drinking and finishing a bottle of vodka that he had sneaked onto the plane and trying to speak to girls at the back of the plane by the toilets and just being really drunk.
‘When the Stewardesses tried to take his Gold Ivy vodka bottle off him. He said “I don’t want to give it you because I need it for protection”.
‘At the end of the flight he was constantly shouting and bringing his bag out from the overhead bit and staff were telling him to sit down.
‘Then another Celtic fan said he was a disgrace.
‘He tried to fight the other guy but his wife/girlfriend/partner tried to hold him down.
‘Then Police came onboard and he tried to throw punches at them.’
The passenger said someone shouting ‘come on the Celtic’ had ‘kicked everything off again’.
The Glasgow side beat Aberdeen on penalties to reach the Scottish Cup final while the flight was in the air.
‘Before we landed someone at the top of the flight had cheered because they found out the result and shouted “come on the Celtic”.
‘That had kicked everything off again but I don’t think that triggered him as he was being difficult before that.’
The holidaymaker added that his 12-year-old son was ‘stressed’ during the fight.
He said: ‘A lot of people had kids and there was empty seats of the back of the plane when they moved them too.
‘When he was taken out they cheered. Everyone was stressed and kids were crying non-stop.
‘My 12-year-old son was stressed, but he was okay.
‘It wasn’t ideal.
‘[The Celtic fan] waited for between ten and 20 minutes on the tarmac for the police to arrive.
I think he was taken into the airport by security and police.’
An easyJet spokesperson said: ‘easyJet can confirm that police attended a flight to Antalya on 20 April on arrival due to a passenger behaving disruptively on board.
‘easyJet’s crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of passengers is not compromised at any time.
‘Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour.
‘The safety and wellbeing of all our customers and crew is always our highest priority.’
