West Midlands Police say they were present to prevent a breach of the peace amid rising tensions

West Midlands Police has come under fire after officers stood by as a group of men put up new St George’s Cross flags on a city street with a cherry picker.

Bystanders said the police presence appeared to legitimise the activity of those hanging flags from lampposts in Stirchley, despite rising tensions between those in favour and those against the phenomenon. Stirchley has been a flashpoint.

Officers at the scene were filmed telling onlookers they were simply there to ensure there was no ‘breach of the peace’. They said they were not providing an escort.

READ MORE: England flags torn down in Stirchley hours after being put up

But in an angry riposte, some residents said it was an unfathomable use of police time. They asked if those who wanted to remove the flags would be given the same ‘red carpet treatment’.

Video showing the exchange between frustrated residents and a police officer was posted on the social media channel Bluesky.

It showed an officer calmly speaking to residents on the roadside outside Aldi at the junction of Hazelwell Lane/Pershore Road while a group of men in hi-vis tabards were visible with flags behind them.

The officer said: “It is to stop a breach of the peace, that’s why we are here,” while a man responded: “The best way to do that would be stop them blocking the highway, which I am pretty certain is an offence.”

The female officer continued: “Unfortunately sir at the moment what they are doing in the (inaudible) law is not a criminal offence.”

A woman bystander responded: “This is…harassment of an area that already took them down, then there was grafitti of people who kicked off about it, people have been spraying on their shops, and now they are putting them up again to make a point.”

The officer replied: “I understand you are upset, I really do, I have been dealing with this for a number of hours now, I understand tensions are running really high, but in the bounds of the law at the moment there isn’t an offence.

“We are here to prevent a breach of the peace, that’s all. They are certainly not getting an escort, OK?”

One Stirchley resident, who asked not to be named, witnessed the flags being put up in the police’s presence. They said: “It is absolutely crazy that the police have to waste hours protecting men who are putting up flags in our community, against the wishes of the council and some of our residents. Nobody would have attacked those men as they did so, to suggest otherwise is wrong.

“But in contrast, locals who have voiced opposition to more flags appearing have faced abuse in real life and online, and businesses who have dared to say the flags are not welcome have been grafittied or threatened with ‘boycotts’.

“The police are effectively endorsing this activity and it is totally unacceptable.”

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 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.

If you’d like to share your views on what the flags mean to you, please get in touch.

A discussion about the flags on The Stirchley Page, a facebook group with more than 28,000 members, showed the divisions they had triggered.

Several posters said they resented flags being ‘forced’ on the area by outsiders and that it was triggering tension between neighbours.

One said they would make a donation to charity for every flag put up ‘as that was what being British was really about’, with others taking up the mantra.

A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: “The display of flags or banners on lamp-posts is a matter for the local authority. We were there to prevent a breach of the police. A police escort was not given.”

Birmingham City Council previously urged residents to stop putting up flags on lamp-posts and other public places – saying they amounted to ‘unauthorised attachments’.