An army of patriotic campaigners have vowed to continue putting up England and Union Jack flags despite council workers ripping them down.
A drive to cover British towns and cities in national flags is being coordinated by an online movement called Operation Raise the Colours.
Patriotic activists are using a Facebook page to help gather flags together – with members chipping in with offers of transport and equipment, such as ladders.
One user posted: ’60 of the 120 just collected… going to be a busy few evenings.’
A second wrote: ‘I just feel that the time has come to all band together and refuse to be bullied, we are proud of our country and should not be made to feel otherwise.’
It comes as the Prime Minister backed the public’s right to fly St George’s flags after furious locals thwarted a second council’s efforts to remove them from lampposts.
Council workers in Tower Hamlets were met with abuse as they began to tear down England and Union Jack flags which were hung from street lampposts by patriotism campaigners.
Birmingham City Council provoked a major backlash last week by announcing it would begin removing hundreds of similar flags from the city’s streets for ‘safety reasons’.
Critics have pointed out that Palestine flags were left to fly in parts of Birmingham and the east London borough – which both have large Muslim populations – for months without being challenged by authorities.
A drive to cover British towns and cities in national flags is being coordinated by an online movement called Operation Raise the Colours. Pictured is a post by a group admin
Patriotic activists are using a Facebook page to help gather flags together before making plans to put them up – with members chipping in with offers of transport and equipment, such as ladders
An activist was pictured yesterday confronting officials who were removing flags in Tower Hamlets
Operation Raise the Colours has led to communities across the country hanging up flags on their streets, including Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich and the Isle of Wight, in defiance of council bans.
Group members have vowed to redouble their efforts and rejected criticism the movement is ‘aggressive’.
‘There`s nothing aggressive about flying a flag!’ Tony Johnson wrote. ‘It`s a banner, an emblem and a sign of patriotism, nothing more!’
Downing Street yesterday backed the flying of the national flags, although stopped short of commenting on individual cases such as the disputes in Birmingham and Tower Hamlets.
Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: The PM has always talked about his pride in being British, his patriotism…patriotism will always be an important thing to him.’
Asked if Sir Keir was supportive of people putting up English flags, his spokesman said: ‘Absolutely. We put up English flags all around Downing Street every time the English football team, women’s and men’s are out, trying to win games for us.’
There were fractious scenes on the streets of Tower Hamlets yesterday (MON) when a small team of council cleaners began to cut down England flags from lampposts.
The authority is led by Lutfur Rahman of the pro-Palestine Aspire Party, and previously refused to remove hundreds of Palestine flags that were hanging from lamp posts and council buildings in the borough so as not to ‘destabilise community cohesion’.
‘Operation Raise the Colours’ demonstrators began setting up St George’s flags in Tower Hamlets on Sunday night
Tower Hamlets council workers pull down a St George’s Cross put up by patriotic campaigners yesterday
Mr Rahman – who was previously found guilty of electoral fraud – finally ordered them to be removed last year after Jewish locals complained they were intimidating and divisive.
But when the cleaners began to remove the England flags yesterday morning, they found themselves on the receiving end of abuse from passersby.
‘This is a f***ing joke,’ one driver shouted, adding: ‘We’re going put them back up anyway.’
The flags could be seen dumped in a pile in the back of a refuse lorry being driven by the cleaners
One of the cleaners, who gave his name only as Tyrone, told the Mail: ‘I was sent here by my managers to take these flags down.
‘I don’t know the significance of these flags but I’ve been taking them down and getting abuse by people who are telling me to ‘leave it’.
‘They ask me ‘what has Britain become?’ ‘don’t take them down’ and ‘the mayor’s a w****r’
‘But I’m just doing my job and I’m not going to let them hinder me from what I am doing.’
He said they were having to abort their operation and would try again in the early hours in the hope the abuse would be more muted.
Tower Hamlets council previously came under fire for allowing Palestinian flags to be displayed on council buildings and lampposts after the conflict in Gaza began (seen in 2024)
The ‘flag wars’ began when Birmingham City Council removed flags in a suburb over claims they were dangerous
One disgruntled local, who claimed he was among a group of around 20 residents responsible for erecting the flags along Marsh Wall road, demanded all the flags be returned to him – including those already been thrown into the refuse lorry.
The man, who would not provide his name, was seen angrily remonstrating with the cleaners’ manager and threatening to report him for ‘theft’.
He said: ‘You’re 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’s theft!’
In Birmingham, there was little sign that the council had made any headway removing the hundreds of Union Jacks and St George’s Flags when the Mail yesterday the neighbourhoods at the centre of the row.
A small group calling themselves the ‘Weoley Warriors’ have hung scores of flags across neighbourhoods in the south of the city including Northfield, including Weoley Castle, Northfield, Selly Oak and Bartley Green.
Describing themselves as a ‘group of proud English men with a common goal to show Birmingham and the rest of the country of how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements’, the Weoley Warriors have so far raised more than £10,000 online to fund their efforts.
The men behind the group keep their faces hidden in their social media posts but have vowed to replace any flags that the council succeed in cutting down.
Window cleaner Matt Glover, 37, from Northfield, Birmingham, identified as one of the Weoley group, said the flags pose no risk to public safety, and vowed to continue playing ‘cat and mouse’ with the council.
The father-of-four said he and others in the group observe proper safety procedures and make sure ladders are used by trained individuals.
The ‘Warriors’ – believed to be based around the Weoley Castle pub in the area, claim they have hoisted around 1,500 flags around Birmingham in recent weeks.
They describe themselves as ‘a group of proud English men with a common goal to show Birmingham and the rest of the country how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements’.
The group said it aims to give hope to local communities.
Birmingham City Council said staff had been instructed to remove all attachments from lampposts ahead of an upgrade to energy-efficient LED street lighting.
But opponents claim the removal of the flags only began in earnest when GB and England flags were posted, while Palestine and Pakistani national flags flew untouched in the city for months.
Meanwhile a Go Fund Me page set up to buy more flags and fixings has now passed the £10,500 mark.
Mr Glover said: ‘The flags are erected by trained individuals during the late evenings and early mornings or late evening with footing of the ladders and all flaggers wearing hi visibility vests.
‘The risk of a flag falling from a lamppost would be rare due to the strong cable ties used and the correct fitting.’
He added that the City Council ‘are trying everything in their power to find an excuse to remove the flags of this nation and are creating a divide by making an issue which should not be there and also creating yet more anger within the community.
‘It’s ludicrous to think you can decorate the library of Birmingham in the flag colours of Pakistan but you can’t fly the flag of your own country from a lamppost the taxpayers fund to upkeep.’
He rejected any hint of racism and said the flags had enjoyed support from ethnic minorities in the city.
Two roundabouts on the junctions of Yardley Wood Road, Chinnbrook Road and Haunch Lane in Birmingham have been painted with St George’s Crosses
A woman cycling around one of the roundabouts this morning. They have divided opinion
Simon White posing by a road decked with St George’s Crosses in Birmingham
There were other displays of DIY patriotism in nearby Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, where one resident was filmed painting a St George’s Cross on a white mini-roundabout.
In viral social media footage, the man can be seen finishing his work just as a police car pulls up nearby.
Residents expressed mixed views on the transformed roundabouts.
Ian Anderson, 40, said locals had been pushed into ‘taking a stance’.
‘I certainly don’t agree with vandalising roads or roundabouts, after all flags are just flags and can be taken down,’ he said.
‘However, there is a real sense that people who are proud to be British are being made to feel ashamed of their patriotism.
‘I don’t see anything wrong with flags on lampposts, it reminds me of when the World Cup or Olympics is on.’
Another local said: ‘There is no coincidence that the flags have popped up at a time when immigration is such a hot topic.
‘We’ve seen protests against so-called migrant hotels and about small boats and people are angry but most don’t resort to vandalism.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if the same small number of people putting the flags on lampposts are the same people painting the roundabouts red and white.’
The council lit up the Library of Birmingham in green and white to mark the anniversary of Pakistan’s independence day
The council has been accused of hypocrisy for failing to crack down on Palestine flags with the same vigour as the British flags
A spokesman for Tower Hamlets council said: ‘We are aware members of the public have been putting up St George’s flags on various structures,’ the spokesman said.
‘While we recognise people wish to express their views, we have a responsibility to monitor and maintain council infrastructure.
‘Where flags are attached to council-owned infrastructure without permission, they may be removed as part of routine maintenance.’
Susan Hall, the head of the Conservative group in the London Assembly and a former candidate for London mayor, called the decision to remove the flags ‘outrageous’.
‘They’ve allowed Palestinian flags to fly there – why on earth are they taking England flags down?’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘If they accept other flags going up, why can’t they allow British ones?’
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the council had got itself into an ‘unnecessary mess’.
‘The Cross of St George is part of the Union flag. British flags should be allowed to be put up because this is Britain,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘The accusation is they leave some flags up but want you to take down flags that are relevant to the UK.
‘They need to make it clear what the rules are and apply them to everyone.
‘If the rules are that you need permission to put flags up then they should make that clear rather than appearing to focus on UK flags.’
