{"id":490262,"date":"2025-10-11T06:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T06:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490262\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T06:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T06:02:10","slug":"concerns-edinburgh-council-emboldening-anti-migrant-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490262\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns Edinburgh Council ’emboldening’ anti-migrant protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The campaign has seen St George\u2019s Cross flags tied to lampposts and painted on roundabouts across England over the summer, while more recently Saltires have appeared on street furniture in Scotland, including in Glasgow and Falkirk<\/a> alongside Edinburgh.\n<\/p>\n

\n Supporters of the movement claim it promotes unity and patriotism, however many have dismissed the displays as an attempt to send an unwelcome message to immigrants and ethnic minorities at a time when tensions are already heightened.\n<\/p>\n

\n Last month council officials said in an internal communication arrangements were being made to ensure all flags in place on Calder Road were \u201cremoved as a priority\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n However, more than two weeks on, they remain cable tied to lampposts along the dual carriageway which runs west out of the city.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Herald contacted Edinburgh Council for an update on the removals but did not receive a response.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ross McKenzie, an independent councillor for the local area, said: \u201cI\u2019m concerned that the council\u2019s inaction is emboldening other anti-migrant activity.”\n<\/p>\n

\n He said this included “deport Muslims” being spray-painted \u00a0on the entrance to an underpass on Calder Road.\n<\/p>\n

\n Cllr McKenzie said: \u201cI reported the graffiti to the council and it\u2019s now been removed.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Expressing frustration at the council’s failure to take the flags down, he said: \u201cSenior officers are paid huge sums of money to find solutions to problems like this and it\u2019s been over a month now and they haven\u2019t solved it.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe council has a policy of not allowing stuff to be hung from council property. It was a nightmare for Hearts to get the permission to do the Maroon Mile display. The council just needs to enforce its own policy, it shouldn\u2019t require that kind of political pressure.”\n<\/p>\n

\n When members of Stand Up to Racism Edinburgh attempted to remove the flags last weekend, they said a man confronted them, threatening: \u2018I\u2019m going to slit your throat.’\n<\/p>\n

\n Cllr McKenzie added: \u201cI didn\u2019t want to publicly take this on because I was concerned about giving oxygen to the anti-migrant campaign. I really didn\u2019t want to do that.\n<\/p>\n

\n “But the council\u2019s inaction followed by the threats that were made to Stand Up To Racism and the presence of racist graffiti, I felt I couldn\u2019t continue being quiet about it.\n<\/p>\n

\n “You can see that the council\u2019s failure to act is emboldening people.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Police Scotland confirmed it received a report of a man threatened by another man in the Calder Road area of Edinburgh at around 10.30am on Sunday, 5 October, 2025. A spokesperson said enquiries are ongoing.\n<\/p>\n

\n Recounting the incident, Donny Gluckstein of Stand Up to Racism Edinburgh told The Herald: \u201cWe thought we would save the council\u2019s rate payers some money and actually take them down ourselves.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Somebody came out from very nearby absolutely raging. He said: \u2018I\u2019m going to slit your throat, I\u2019m going to stab you, you are woke lefties, I am a patriot\u2019. It was just shouting and screaming. We didn\u2019t want a confrontation because that\u2019s not what we do, so we just turned and walked away.”\n<\/p>\n

\n He said given their experience anyone who is sent to remove the flags should be accompanied by the police or security guards.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI know how resources are short, but this needs to be made a priority.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Not only because a lot of people find it intimidating and object to it happening, but also it\u2019s a safety issue because it\u2019s a busy road, they\u2019re loosely attached, they can easily fall off onto somebody\u2019s bonnet and you can\u2019t see where you\u2019re going; it\u2019s not right, they shouldn\u2019t be on roads like that,” Mr Gluckstein added.\n<\/p>\n

\n Councillor Cathy Fullerton, SNP<\/a> councillor for Sighthill\/Gorgie, said: “The vast majority of my constituents just want a decent standard of life and reliable public services, wherever they were born and whatever their background or faith.\n<\/p>\n

\n “They want nothing at all to do with the bigots who are trying to turn our flags into symbols of hatred and intimidation against vulnerable members of our community.\n<\/p>\n

\n “The Council needs to step up and deal with this straight away.”\n<\/p>\n

\n It is understood there are safety concerns for council staff or contractors tasked with removing the flags, following several incidents, including a worker who was verbally abused and had his cherry picker damaged while attempting to take down Saltire flags from lampposts in Stenhousemuir earlier this month.\n<\/p>\n

\n Cllr McKenzie said it was the council’s duty to “find a way so that people can do this safely”.\n<\/p>\n

\n Scott Arthur, Labour MP and Edinburgh South West, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult issue, but ultimately Edinburgh is an inclusive city and some people think those flags don\u2019t reflect our values as a nation.\n<\/p>\n

\n More from our Edinburgh Correspondent<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cDifferent people think the message being sent is different, but for me it\u2019s the flags we\u2019ve seen down south and that message.\n<\/p>\n

\n “We\u2019re an inclusive place and I think it pains me some people, when they look at these flags, they think that goes against our values. And I think as a country we\u2019ve got a duty to protect our values as a nation and inclusivity is a big part of that.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhat I would say though is the council has a legal responsibility to take them down because they are against the law, is my understanding.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf people want to fly a flag in their own garden or house they\u2019re absolutely welcome to do that. But I think having them on lampposts on the main thoroughfare into Edinburgh – I\u2019ve lived in Edinburgh since 1996 and I\u2019ve never seen that ever.\n<\/p>\n

\n “It\u2019s just not part of the culture of the city and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s part of Scotland\u2019s culture to have these flags displayed in that way either.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The campaign has seen St George\u2019s Cross flags tied to lampposts and painted on roundabouts across England over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-490262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115354018986525517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490262","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=490262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}