{"id":355831,"date":"2025-08-19T03:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T03:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355831\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T03:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T03:54:24","slug":"how-councils-tearing-down-england-flags-has-sparked-backlash-across-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355831\/","title":{"rendered":"How councils tearing down England flags has sparked backlash across the country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even a few short years ago, the prospect of the national flag being ripped down on official orders would have been unthinkable.<\/p>\n

Yet, that\u2019s exactly what is happening in our two biggest cities, London<\/a> and Birmingham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, as our pictures show, came the extraordinary spectacle of council workers using extendable shears to remove St George\u2019s Cross flags from lamp posts in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, the same battle lines are being drawn in Newcastle, Bradford, Norwich, Swindon and elsewhere \u2013 as Britons show their patriotic pride. And town halls threaten to provoke fury in response.<\/p>\n

Tensions bubbled over in Tower Hamlets yesterday when, around midday at Marsh Wall on the Isle of Dogs, a two-man team from the council spent several hours cutting down Union and St George flags<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the employees, who gave his name only as Tyrone, told the Daily Mail: \u2018I was sent here by my managers to take these flags down.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know the significance of these flags but I\u2019ve been taking them down and getting abuse by people who are telling me to \u201cleave it!\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018They ask me \u201cwhat has Britain become?\u201d, and say \u201cdon\u2019t take them down\u201d and tell me \u201cthe mayor\u2019s a w*****\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Yesterday, <\/p>\n

Yesterday, as our pictures show, came the extraordinary spectacle of council workers using extendable shears to remove St George\u2019s Cross flags from lamp posts in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets<\/p>\n

\"Even <\/p>\n

Even a few short years ago, the prospect of the national flag being ripped down on official orders would have been unthinkable. Yet, that\u2019s exactly what is happening in our two biggest cities, London (pictured) and Birmingham<\/p>\n

\"Tensions <\/p>\n

Tensions bubbled over in Tower Hamlets yesterday when, around midday at Marsh Wall on the Isle of Dogs, a two-man team from the council spent several hours cutting down Union and St George flags<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018And they get annoyed because they say the Palestinian flags were left up for weeks and months, but the English flags have been removed straight away.<\/p>\n

\u2018But I\u2019m just doing my job and I\u2019m not going to let them hinder me from what I am doing.\u2019<\/p>\n

With his workmate tiring of the abuse and keen to call it a day, Tyrone admitted it might be wiser to \u2018come back tomorrow around 6.30am to remove the rest when there aren\u2019t so many people around who will get upset\u2019.<\/p>\n

One local, who claimed he was among a group of around 20 responsible for erecting the flags, was seen arguing with a council manager and threatening to report him for \u2018theft\u2019.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018You\u2019re on the frontline being made to look like a complete and utter idiot after the whole of the Isle of Dogs has paid for these flags to be hung. That\u2019s theft!\u2019<\/p>\n

None of it makes for a pretty sight. The council workers are little more than cannon fodder \u2013 abused for doing the dirty work of the political classes and the faceless mandarins.<\/p>\n

And nor is it easy to dismiss the locals\u2019 dismay and anger at the sight of their national flags being dumped into a refuse lorry.<\/p>\n

Adding insult to injury is the contrasting reverence they say has been shown to the Palestinian flag.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is no way of avoiding the fact that Tower Hamlets has the highest Muslim population at just under 40 per cent \u2013 of all council boroughs in England and Wales.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

One of the employees, who gave his name only as Tyrone, told the Daily Mail: \u2018I was sent here by my managers to take these flags down. \u2018I don\u2019t know the significance of these flags but I\u2019ve been taking them down and getting abuse by people who are telling me to \u201cleave it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"One <\/p>\n

One local, who claimed he was among a group of around 20 responsible for erecting the flags, was seen arguing with a council manager and threatening to report him for \u2018theft\u2019<\/p>\n

\"None <\/p>\n

None of it makes for a pretty sight. The council workers are little more than cannon fodder \u2013 abused for doing the dirty work of the political classes and the faceless mandarins<\/p>\n

\u00a0The concentration of Muslim residents is high in Birmingham, also, at nearly 30 per cent. And that is where the campaign to fly British and English flags \u2013 much of it now organised online \u2013 emerged.<\/p>\n

For weeks St George\u2019s flags have been flown in areas including Weoley Castle, Northfield and Selly Oak, erected by groups of patriotic locals.<\/p>\n

Last week Birmingham City Council announced plans to upgrade street lights with energy efficient LEDs.<\/p>\n

It would have been an uncontroversial press release were it not for the line that the works would require the removal of \u2018advertising banners and flags\u2019 from lamp posts.<\/p>\n

These \u2018unauthorised attachments\u2019 could put the lives of passers-by and motorists \u2018at risk\u2019, the Labour-run authority claimed, adding that flags could \u2018weaken\u2019 the structural integrity of lamp posts \u2018potentially leading to collapse\u2019.<\/p>\n

But was the timing a coincidence? Many believe the council is using the upgrade as a fig leaf to remove such visible expressions of national identity, expressions that could prove awkward in a multicultural city.<\/p>\n

Yet their apparent squeamishness over English and British flags is not applied to the Palestinian standard, which has flown from lamp posts in areas including Sparkhill, since, the Daily Mail understands, the October 7 attack on Israel in 2023.<\/p>\n

The black, white, green and red of Palestine is a familiar sight in Sparkhill, an inner-city suburb with a Muslim population of 79 per cent.<\/p>\n

The parade of grim-looking shopfronts is an almost endless series of halal food specialists, Islamic dress retailers and immigration lawyers.<\/p>\n

\"For <\/p>\n

\u00a0For weeks St George\u2019s flags have been flown in areas including Weoley Castle (pictured), Northfield and Selly Oak, erected by groups of patriotic locals<\/p>\n

\"Nor <\/p>\n

Nor is it easy to dismiss the locals\u2019 dismay and anger at the sight of their national flags being dumped into a refuse lorry. Adding insult to injury is the contrasting reverence locals say has been shown to the Palestinian flag. Pictured: Palestinian flags seen in Tower Hamlets in 2024\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The black, white, green and red of Palestine is a familiar sight in Sparkhill (pictured), an inner-city suburb with a Muslim population of 79 per cent. The parade of grim-looking shopfronts is an almost endless series of halal food specialists, Islamic dress retailers and immigration lawyers<\/p>\n

Yet the streetscape is the least of its problems. With more than a dozen convicted Islamic terrorists hailing from here, Sparkhill has been seldom off the radar of the police and MI5 in the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

In the most notorious case, Irfan Naseer led a plot to detonate up to ten suicide bombs and timed explosives in crowded places.<\/p>\n

He received a life sentence in 2013 with a minimum term of 18 years, while two conspirators were also handed lengthy jail terms.<\/p>\n

It was also reported in 2020 that extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir \u2013 banned as a terrorist group in January 2024 \u2013 set up a base to recruit Muslim youths in Sparkhill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, it may come as a surprise that several locals who spoke to the Daily Mail believed their fellow Birmingham residents should be allowed to fly their Union and St George flags without any council interference.<\/p>\n

One resident, Ibrar Khan, 29, originally from Pakistan, said: \u2018If the flags are lawful then they should keep them up.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ahmed Haji Khan, 34, also a Pakistani national who has lived in Sparkhill for 15 years, said: \u2018It\u2019s their country… They should hang the flag. They have every right. The council should allow it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Nazakat Khan, who is of Pakistani origin, moved to the UK just before Brexit. He said: \u2018Everyone here supports Palestine, that\u2019s why the flags are here.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The support for flag-flying is understandable in areas in which the Palestinian flag has flown for several months<\/p>\n

\"Birmingham <\/p>\n

Birmingham City Council’s apparent squeamishness over English and British flags is not applied to the Palestinian standard, which has flown from lamp posts in areas including Sparkhill (pictured), since, the Daily Mail understands, the October 7 attack on Israel in 2023<\/p>\n

\"Three <\/p>\n

Three miles away on the main street of the Alum Rock area, where the Muslim population is 83 per cent, a Palestinian flag could be seen about every 100 yards. Pictured: a Palestinian flag in the Sparkhill area\u00a0<\/p>\n

When told about the English and British flags, Mr Khan was more cautious. He said: \u2018These two issues are not the same. One is to support a cause where people are dying.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he added: \u2018If putting up the British flags are within the law, then they should put them up. We should all have the same law.\u2019<\/p>\n

The support for flag-flying is understandable in areas in which the Palestinian flag has flown for several months.<\/p>\n

Three miles away on the main street of the Alum Rock area, where the Muslim population is 83 per cent, a Palestinian flag could be seen about every 100 yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Chaiwalla cafe, a waitress said: \u2018These flags have been here since October 7 [2023], to be honest.<\/p>\n

\u2018Everyone supports Palestine here. People would get very angry if you took them off.\u2019<\/p>\n

So spooked has the council been by the prospect that an internal email from staff, seen by the Daily Mail, reveals a police presence would be needed.<\/p>\n

Council cabinet member Majid Mahmood said of the Palestinian flags hanging from lamp posts in February: \u2018We are taking these down, but we need the support of the police due to issues that have cropped [up] when we first tried to take them down.\u2019 What those \u2018issues\u2019 are remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Mr Mahmood did not respond to our calls but a council spokesman said all flags, including Palestinian ones, are routinely taken down.<\/p>\n

This is despite locals in Alum Rock and Sparkhill telling the Daily Mail they have been up on lamp posts for months or even years.<\/p>\n

The spokesman said: \u2018We have removed Palestinian flags along with other attachments.<\/p>\n

\"Council <\/p>\n

Council cabinet member Majid Mahmood said of the Palestinian flags hanging from lamp posts in February: \u2018We are taking these down, but we need the support of the police due to issues that have cropped [up] when we first tried to take them down’<\/p>\n

\"With <\/p>\n

With homegrown anti-British sentiment on the rise, the city council announcement was delivered at a particularly sensitive juncture. It also came against growing cultural tensions over mass migration<\/p>\n

\"Local <\/p>\n

Local mothers led protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex (pictured), which was housing an Ethiopian asylum seeker charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl<\/p>\n

\"Back <\/p>\n

Back in Birmingham, the flags started springing up last month in Weoley Castle \u2013 in the south-west of the city \u2013 before spreading to Northfield, Selly Oak, Bartley Green and other districts. It is estimated that around 1,500 have been put up so far<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018Unfortunately, some items are replaced after we have removed them… On some occasions, the council has had to request police assistance when removing a variety of items. This is not limited to Palestinian flags.\u2019<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Birmingham, locals are angry at the prospect of their UK flags being removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With homegrown anti-British sentiment on the rise, the city council announcement was delivered at a particularly sensitive juncture. It also came against growing cultural tensions over mass migration.<\/p>\n

Local mothers led protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which was housing an Ethiopian asylum seeker charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other demonstrations have been held outside migrant accommodation in Newcastle, the Norfolk town of Diss and the right-on north London enclave of Islington.<\/p>\n

Back in Birmingham, the flags started springing up last month in Weoley Castle \u2013 in the south-west of the city \u2013 before spreading to Northfield, Selly Oak, Bartley Green and other districts. It is estimated that around 1,500 have been put up so far.<\/p>\n

When the Daily Mail visited the city, feelings were running high over the council warning. \u2018I think it\u2019s an absolute disgrace,\u2019 said James Edwards, who lives in the suburb where the renewed show of national pride first emerged.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old added: \u2018It\u2019s been lovely to see the flags out and they\u2019ve made a lot of people happy.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Union <\/p>\n

When the Daily Mail visited Birmingham, feelings were running high over the council warning. \u2018I think it\u2019s an absolute disgrace,\u2019 said James Edwards, who lives in the suburb where the renewed show of national pride first emerged<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The largely anonymous group behind the campaign, who call themselves the Weoley Warriors, have posted on social media about their \u2018common goal to show Birmingham and the rest of the country how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Several <\/p>\n

Several locals who spoke to the Daily Mail believed their fellow Birmingham residents should be allowed to fly their Union and St George flags without any council interference. Ibrar Khan, 29, originally from Pakistan, said: \u2018If the flags are lawful then they should keep them up’<\/p>\n

\u00a0Another Weoley Castle local, Yolanda Nevers, 59, said: \u2018I really don\u2019t see what the problem is. The flags aren\u2019t doing any harm at all.\u2019<\/p>\n

The largely anonymous group behind the campaign, who call themselves the Weoley Warriors, have posted on social media about their \u2018common goal to show Birmingham and the rest of the country how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements\u2019.<\/p>\n

Their Facebook page states: \u2018No matter your background, race or religion we live side-by-side in this country, so when you look up [and] see the flags fly, they fly for you.\u2019<\/p>\n

By yesterday evening, its online fundraising tally had reached more than \u00a310,600 to pay for \u2018flags, poles and cable ties\u2019. One donor posted a note that read: \u2018Symbols of hope everywhere, thanks guys.\u2019<\/p>\n

Not everyone has been so complimentary, though. One dissenting voice said: \u2018It\u2019s dressed up as pride in the flag but it plays right into the hands of racists who think they can decide who counts as British and who doesn\u2019t.\u2019<\/p>\n

But representing the Weoley group, Matt Glover \u2013 also a campaigner for justice for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombing victims and their families \u2013 told Birmingham Live: \u2018We are working class people, not just white people \u2013 what we have in common is we are all proud of our flag and country, but people assume that makes us racist.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is the flag flown on government buildings, on Buckingham Palace, everywhere, and it\u2019s the flag our troops fight under, yet somehow we [are made to feel we] should be ashamed of it.\u2019<\/p>\n

The father of four continued: \u2018We are fed up of illegal immigration, of two-tier policing; of our own people not being able to get homes before foreign nationals.\u2019<\/p>\n

Suddenly, the lowering of these flags has become a lightning rod for the febrile debate over immigration. And as long as councils pull them down it\u2019s hard not to see the protests growing ever more vocal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even a few short years ago, the prospect of the national flag being ripped down on official orders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[855,748,92,393,4884,257,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-355831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115053413980381788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}