This is one occasion where Celtic fans should "know their history" !!!! Do a google search for Celtic and Flares and you get rather a lot of hits, very few of which relate to 70s fashion !!! Whether its at Celtic Park, in European ties, or even in pre-season friendlies in England, there are dozens of reports of this, and the vast majority of them are recent, many involve injury, and most are related to so-called "ultras" culture.
In other words, Celtic fans, albeit a small minority of them, currently have a reputation for smuggling prohibited and dangerous items into various stadia. It is therefore not unreasonable for the security staff or police to try and mitigate this. I would also expect the same treatment dished out to other "supporters" if they continually exhibited this behaviour too !
I do stand by what I said earlier in saying that I think St Mirren may be going in a bit heavy handed on this one, but its all relative, and as CaleyD says, possibly rooted in the intelligence gathered by the authorities in the leadup to the game. The St Mirren reaction is in response to a (recurring) pattern of behaviour. The game does belong to the fans, but those same fans also have to take some responsibility for allowing the minority to tar them with the hooligan brush .... The Trust should be urging the fans to "self police" the minority who are causing this rather than trying to lay all the blame at St Mirren.
Civil Liberties, YES, but that does not mean allowing anarchy and chaos in the stands !
I think you are lucky ! As I posted above, Toronto FC have also had a debate about flares. One Supporters group with maybe 200 members (in a 20,000 stadium) and who are seated in the opposite end of the ground from the other supporters groups, developed a reputation for going over the top and this has meant certain security measures are now in place for us all .. not just at that end of the ground, but at the whole ground.
It has to be said that TFC is pretty lenient for the most part with its supporters, and has welcomed communication, meetings, suggestions and ideas, and it also allows "raucous" behaviour in the stands with standing, chanting, flags and banners etc when it does not fall foul of the stadium rules ... but this group always tried to push the boundaries, and one of those boundaries was "pyro" ... flares and/or smoke bombs.
Its a long story, so I wont go into it in detail, but the end result after a few incidents was that the club started enforcing policies that had always been there but were rarely used. For example, all flags and banners had to be checked in an hour before the game, the 'capos' leading the chanting had to get official ID badges issued prior to each game, and all fans would be subject to searches or random pat-downs ..... Its not fun, it delays you getting in, and there was a lot of resentment towards that supporters group rather than the club or the security folk (who hated it too as they had to work for their money rather than just collect a pay cheque). The club did get it in the neck for the flags/capos restrictions as most thought that was heavy handed and had nothing to do with the flare issue, but most did not object to pat-downs as you could relate to it being a preventative measure for the flares and the anger for that was directed at the group who caused the problem rather than the club who just reacted to it. In the end, the other supporters groups 'self-policed' their own members and the club weeded out the offenders (the group is pretty much disbanded now). End result towards the final part of the season was a relaxation of the rules again .... if we behave decently, the club doesnt go over the top and vice-versa ..... simple as that.
Been through an airport as a "business traveller" recently ? Full Body Scanners. need I say more.
Again, the "treatment" is a reaction (and yes, perhaps at times an over-reaction) to past events (be that an airport or a football match) and the only way to have it abolished is to deal with or mitigate the cause.
I mentioned the thrown flare in my post above, what I didnt mention was that it whizzed over my head, just a few feet away (it was probably more, but it felt that close at the time). If a glob of chemical had dripped right at that moment, whoever was closest would have been maimed or scarred for life, rather than the poor woman who "just" had a hole burned in her jeans and a rather sore burn on her leg when it finally landed on/near her. These things are dangerous !!!!!!
I would agree with a campaign that asserts the right of football fans to be treated with respect by those tasked with stewarding or policing games. There is nothing more aggravating than being singled out for no good reason other than the fact that the steward that day wants a wee power kick. I have heard plenty of examples on both sides of the pond about unjustified and unjustifiable treatment, and experienced it myself, and we have even had some dialogue about it in relation to isolated incidents at ICT over the last few years which led to private chats with ICT officials ... however, I do not believe this is a good example to spearhead any such campaign ..... You can dress it up in Civil Liberties speak or generalise that it relates to every football fan in the land if you wish, but in this case it does not ... Its a specific reaction to a specific set of supporters for a specific type of behaviour that is both habitual and recent. If the Trust want to address this, they should address it internally first !