{"id":210772,"date":"2025-12-02T04:18:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T04:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/210772\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T04:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T04:18:12","slug":"violence-survivor-natasha-obrien-joins-campaign-to-reclaim-irish-tricolour-people-died-for-our-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/210772\/","title":{"rendered":"Violence survivor Natasha O’Brien joins campaign to reclaim Irish tricolour: ‘People died for our flag’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tricolour flags have been erected on lampposts across the country by far-right groups<\/p>\n

20:00, 01 Dec 2025Updated 21:29, 01 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

\"NatashaNatasha O’Brien (Image: Ayesha Ahmad)<\/p>\n

Violence survivor Natasha O\u2019Brien said Irish people need to reclaim the tricolour flag because it represents \u201cpeace and unity, not hate\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recent months tricolour flags have been erected on lampposts across the country by far-right groups aiming to intimidate immigrants and minority communities. In some cases councils have taken down Irish flags where they believe they\u2019re being used to spread hatred.<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Brien has joined a new campaign called #OurFlag, which aims to bring communities across Ireland together and reclaim the Irish flag as a symbol of unity, inclusion, and hope. The Limeric<\/a>k woman said the issue is \u201cextremely personal\u201d to her, as people from every corner of this country supported her when she stood up against the justice system.<\/p>\n

In 2022, she was attacked by soldier Cathal Crotty in Limerick<\/a> after she asked him to stop shouting homophobic abuse. He was initially given a three-year suspended sentence, but he was sentenced to two years in prison following an appeal.<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Brien told the Irish Mirror<\/a>: \u201cEveryone from every corner of Ireland and all diverse communities of Ireland came out [to support me], that’s who we are, that’s our culture, and that’s what our flag represents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so I just felt it was so important for me, personally, and just because I love being Irish. I love my culture, I love my community. Anybody that calls Ireland their home, our flag is for them. People died for our flag. Our flag symbolizes peace and unity and nothing else, not hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis campaign is so important because it’s an opportunity for the majority the public to stand out and say \u2018No, we are not going to allow our flag to be used as a symbol of hate or division.\u2019\u201d Ms O\u2019Brien said it\u2019s a really frightening time for migrant communities in Ireland.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWe’re seeing more than ever of these violent attacks on migrants from young boys and young teenagers. So it’s definitely a time for us to come together, as someone myself that was attacked and decided I wanted to speak out, to question the system and demand safer streets, safer homes, and a safer Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first week of December, the #OurFlag campaign is asking those looking to get involved to post a photo or short message with the Irish flag, using the hashtags #OurFlag, #LoveNotHate, and #\u00c9ireLeCh\u00e9ile.<\/p>\n

The week-long campaign will see over 20 national organisations and 50+ influential voices from sport, culture, politics, and media sharing messages of inclusion.<\/p>\n

For more of the latest breaking news from the Irish Mirror check out our homepage <\/strong>by clicking here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tricolour flags have been erected on lampposts across the country by far-right groups 20:00, 01 Dec 2025Updated 21:29,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,715,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,1844,15,16,5,790,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-210772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-limerick","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115648050476191425","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}