CELTIC fans have unveiled a banner in tribute to North Belfast republican Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane.

The Green Brigade section at Celtic Park paid tribute to the prominent republican who died last Friday, before Celtic's Scottish Premiership match against Aberdeen on Tuesday night.

Alongside a picture of Bik, a banner read: "They said he was a rebel then, he's a hero now, Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam."

Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of mourners turned out for 'Bik's' funeral at his late home off the Cliftonville Road.

Born in 1951, Brendan was raised in Ardoyne. He was the Officer Commanding IRA prisoners in Long Kesh during the 1981 hunger-strike when ten republicans died between May and August ­– taking over the role from Bobby Sands in March of that year.

A legendary figure within republican circles, he led the mass break-out of the prison in September 1983 when 38 IRA prisoners escaped, in what was described at the time as the biggest escape in British penal history.

In 1986 he was recaptured in Holland along with fellow escapee Gerry Kelly and extradited back to the North of Ireland, finally being released from prison in 1997.