A refugee shelter in Palestine has sent a video to Celtic fans to thank them for their donations after a campaign raised over £145,000.
The move came after UEFA fined Celtic for displaying "illicit banners" in their 5-2 win over Israel's Hapoel Be'er Sheva in Glasgow.
UEFA's policy states that fans may not use "gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature."
Celtic fans were warned not to raise Palestine flag during match - see what happens when you try and oppress people pic.twitter.com/X5ffQeVzwt
— yvonne ridley (@yvonneridley) August 18, 2016
After setting up a gofundme page, fans began to pledge money to match the £15,000 fine that the club would face, but planned to donate the money to Medical Aid Palestine and the Lajee Centre, a cultural centre in the Aida Refugee Camp.
The page was set up on Sunday, August 21st, and within a few days had well exceeded its goal, with fans then increasing it to £75,000 as the campaign began to get plenty of media attention. At the time of writing, they have even exceeded that traget, with over £145,000 raised.
As a result, kids and workers at the Lajee Centre made a short video to thank the fans for their support, and it appears that Celtic have earned themselves some new fans along the way.
As a result of the amount of donations received and the interest the campaign has garnered, the fans have decided to set a new target of £150,000 before the September 22nd deadline, when UEFA will decide on the punishment that will be handed down.
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