Elliott Stanley, who is part of a movement to cover Britain in flags, was seen at a protest declaring asylum seekers ‘shouldn’t be here’
A member of the Raise the Colours flag campaign group said he was “not ashamed” of attending a protest outside a Midland hotel used to house asylum seekers – and would do the same again.
Elliott Stanley was seen at a protest in Solihull over the summer, with footage showing him gesturing at anti-racists who were declaring refugees were welcome. He was also recorded saying: “They shouldn’t be here”.
The 44-year-old said his views on unvetted and undocumented males coming to the UK and being housed at public expense were “not a contentious thought process.”
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The father-of-four maintained he would go to a similar protest in the future. Raise the Colours members say they aim to spread unity and patriotism, although that is disputed by opponents who say the flag-raising is calculated to divide communities.
Volunteers have put up the cross of St George and Union flags from lampposts, recently using a cherry picker, across south Birmingham in recent weeks. Now it has emerged Birmingham City Council is seeking to recruit new workers, via a contractor, to take down flags from street furniture under the cover of darkness in the coming weeks.
One of the many flags on Stirchley’s Pershore Road(Image: BirminghamLive)
“If there was another protest there tomorrow I would go to it,” Mr Stanley told BirminghamLive. “I don’t want unvetted and undocumented males coming into this country. If we don’t know who they are, how can that be a good thing?
“I’m talking about people who have paid thousands of pounds to get here and are being put up in a hotel who are here illegally and we don’t know who they are. Rather than (economic) migrants who want to come to this country to work.
“I’m not going to be ashamed of going to a protest.
Elliott Stanley, Co Founder Of Raise The Colours Flags Organisation
“There was an incredible group of people protesting against the hotel, very well spoken, highly articulate, women, men, I had one woman shouting they got married in the hotel.
“I think everyone should play by the rules and come here through the right channels. How can that be a bad thing?
“They are not all fleeing worn-torn countries and even if they are with the Geneva Convention they are supposed to stop in the first safe country.
St George’s Cross flags in Birmingham – the story so far
The flags of St George and the Union have become a regular feature in neighbourhoods across Birmingham this year, fluttering from lamp-posts lining major routes and housing estates.
The phenomenon started in south Birmingham communities including Weoley Castle, Northfield and Frankley before rapidly spreading across the city, Solihull and the Black Country, and on to other cities and towns.
Organisers say they are aiming to spread “love, unity and patriotism” with the flags, but some community voices and residents say the motivations behind putting up the flags lies beyond spreading civic pride.
The Raise the Colours movement says it is behind the rapid spread. Birmingham co-organisers Elliot Stanley and Ryan Bridge have spoken of their ‘patriotic intentions’ and have criticised those who seek their removal.
Prominent groups have also emerged in each community – the ‘Weoley Warriors’ among them. One of their organisers, Nathan, has described how a group of football fans wanted to ‘restore pride’ to ‘neglected’ working class communities.
But there are concerns the project has links to the far right and is designed to divide and intimidate, with a nationalist narrative at its root which seeks to promote specific views on immigration.
The flag hanging comes at a politically charged time in the UK.
Far-right and right wing protestors have been raising St George’s flags outside hotels housing asylum seekers and some Birmingham community groups have called for their “immediate removal” warning it is not “innocent patriotism.”
Others have said that would inflame tensions and that the best way to counter the phenomenon is by putting up ‘Brummies United’ posters instead.
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“Not travelling through so many countries to get here to be put up in a hotel in Solihull town centre at taxpayers expense.
“The PM is saying he needs to get his arms around the situation, the Government is saying it, the previous Government did, the stop the boats campaign.
“This isn’t a far out opinion of mine that we need to get a control of our borders. I don’t think that’s a contentious thought process.”
A spokesperson for Stand Up To Racism, which organised the hotel counter protest at which Mr Stanley was filmed, told BirminghamLive previously: “I think this video confirms what Stand Up To Racism and others have been arguing since the flags started going up. This is a political movement, led by people who hate migrants.
“Now we can see that Elliott Stanley was part of the summer protests aimed at targeting and scapegoating migrants. What people like him refuse to accept is that many people do not hold with their political views and not everyone wants their neighbourhoods covered in flags.”
Previously local Labour political leaders have refused to condemn those putting up flags, nor commented on claims that those behind the initiative are causing division and conflict in local communities.
West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has said safety and responsibility must come first when raising flags by roads, but added that “they are uplifting all of us… displays of patriotism are something I support.”
While Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged delegates at the Labour Party conference to wave their flags, saying: “Let’s fly all our flags because they are our flags. They belong to all of us and we will never surrender them. And let’s unite our country behind them, because this is no time for dividers.”