Latest news with #OperationRaiseTheColours
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Patriotism ‘always important' to Starmer, says No 10 amid flag row
Patriotism 'will always be an important thing' to Sir Keir Starmer, Downing Street has said, after St George's Cross flags were removed from council properties by two local authorities. Flags have been taken down in Tower Hamlets in east London as well as Birmingham. On Monday, St George's cross flags were pictured on the A1206 on the Isle of Dogs in the east of the capital, after campaigners attached them following an online movement called 'Operation Raise the Colours'. BirminghamLive also reported flags that have been flown in areas of the city have been removed by the local council. Asked what the Prime Minister's view is on the councils that have removed the flags, Sir Keir's official spokesman said on Monday: 'I think the PM has always talked about his pride of being British, the patriotism he feels. 'I think he's talked about that previously […] not least recently in relation to the Lionesses' successful campaign in the Euros. 'Patriotism will always be an important thing to him.' Asked if Sir Keir is supportive of people who put up English flags, the spokesman said: 'Absolutely, patriotism, putting up English flags. '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.' Residents saw Manchester Road in Tower Hamlets, east London, lined with St George's flags over the weekend but only a few remained by Monday. Walking along the busy inner city street on Monday lunchtime, one local resident who did not want to give his name said: 'They were all along the street, lots of them. It looked nice really. It was very colourful. 'I saw them late on Saturday. They just appeared and only noticed they have all gone now.' His neighbour said: 'They all went up at the weekend and have come down now.' She added that she did not feel threatened or scared, but it was definitely a 'very pointed act'. The local resident, who did not want to be named, said: 'It was right they should come down as I think it was after the demonstration about asylum.' She said 'it was not about community', adding that normally when you see flags go up it is around a celebration or about bringing people together. 'There was no noise or trouble about it. They just went up and I did not see anyone take them down.' She added: 'It was OK. I know a lot of people like it and it was bright.' Another resident said: 'It was all along the road. It was nice. There was nothing wrong with it. 'It went all along to the Britannia Hotel.' He added it was 'good to see' because 'so much today is about division and I am just proud of being English'. The Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf has been at the centre of protests over asylum seekers in recent weeks. Tower Hamlets Council said it has a 'policy setting out which flags are flown from council buildings and on which occasions'. In a statement, the council added: 'We are aware members of the public have been putting up St George flags on various structures. '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.' Birmingham City Council has been contacted for comment.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Second council removes St George's flags hung by locals for maintenance
A second council has taken down St George's flags from lamposts and council buildings hung by locals. Residents in Weoley Castle, Birmingham, and Tower Hamlets, in east London, have been hanging the flags in recent weeks. However, both councils in the areas - Birmingham City Council and Tower Hamlets Council - have removed them. The flags are believed to be going up as part 'Operation Raise the Colours', an online movement backed by far-right figures including Stephen Yaxley Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. In Tower Hamlets, a council spokesperson said it was aware members of the public had been putting up St George flags on various structures, but said the council has 'a policy setting out which flags are flown from council buildings and on which occasions'. The spokesperson 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." It comes after Birmingham City Council warned that attaching the flags to lamp posts is a hazard for motorists and pedestrians after it removed flags over the weekend. It said staff had been instructed to remove all attachments from lampposts ahead of an upgrade to energy-efficient LED street lighting. The council said the works would help reduce energy use, carbon emissions and maintenance costs. It added that around 200 advertising banners and flags attached to lamp posts have been removed since the start of the year. The spokesperson said the council routinely removes items such as advertising signs, bunting and flags, carrying out 'stress tests' on street furniture ahead of formal events or celebrations. Asked on Monday what the prime minister's view is on the councils that have removed the flags, Sir Keir Starmer's official spokesman said: 'I think the PM has always talked about his pride of being British, the patriotism he feels. 'I think he's talked about that previously […] not least recently in relation to the Lionesses' successful campaign in the Euros. 'Patriotism will always be an important thing to him.' Asked if Sir Keir is supportive of people who put up English flags, the spokesman said: 'Absolutely, patriotism, putting up English flags. '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.'
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Patriotism ‘always important' to Starmer, says No 10 amid flag row
Patriotism 'will always be an important thing' to Sir Keir Starmer, Downing Street has said, after St George's Cross flags were removed from council properties by two local authorities. Flags have been taken down in Tower Hamlets in east London as well as Birmingham. On Monday, St George's cross flags were pictured on the A1206 on the Isle of Dogs in the east of the capital, after campaigners attached them following an online movement called 'Operation Raise the Colours'. BirminghamLive also reported flags that have been flown in areas of the city have been removed by the local council. Asked what the Prime Minister's view is on the councils that have removed the flags, Sir Keir's official spokesman said on Monday: 'I think the PM has always talked about his pride of being British, the patriotism he feels. 'I think he's talked about that previously […] not least recently in relation to the Lionesses' successful campaign in the Euros. 'Patriotism will always be an important thing to him.' Asked if Sir Keir is supportive of people who put up English flags, the spokesman said: 'Absolutely, patriotism, putting up English flags. '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.' Residents saw Manchester Road in Tower Hamlets, east London, lined with St George's flags over the weekend but only a few remained by Monday. Walking along the busy inner city street on Monday lunchtime, one local resident who did not want to give his name said: 'They were all along the street, lots of them. It looked nice really. It was very colourful. 'I saw them late on Saturday. They just appeared and only noticed they have all gone now.' His neighbour said: 'They all went up at the weekend and have come down now.' She added that she did not feel threatened or scared, but it was definitely a 'very pointed act'. The local resident, who did not want to be named, said: 'It was right they should come down as I think it was after the demonstration about asylum.' She said 'it was not about community', adding that normally when you see flags go up it is around a celebration or about bringing people together. 'There was no noise or trouble about it. They just went up and I did not see anyone take them down.' She added: 'It was OK. I know a lot of people like it and it was bright.' Another resident said: 'It was all along the road. It was nice. There was nothing wrong with it. 'It went all along to the Britannia Hotel.' He added it was 'good to see' because 'so much today is about division and I am just proud of being English'. The Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf has been at the centre of protests over asylum seekers in recent weeks. Tower Hamlets Council said it has a 'policy setting out which flags are flown from council buildings and on which occasions'. In a statement, the council added: 'We are aware members of the public have been putting up St George flags on various structures. '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.' Birmingham City Council has been contacted for comment.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Moment furious flag-raiser confronts workers tearing down St George's Cross on orders of council that prided itself on Palestinian banners - as Starmer backs patriotic locals
This is the moment a furious Londoner confronted workers tearing down St George's Crosses on the orders of a local council - as Sir Keir Starmer waded into the row. Tower Hamlets in east London previously prided itself on its displays of Palestine flags, but said any England banners attached to council property by an online movement called 'Operation Raise the Colours' would be promptly removed. The initiative has spread to towns and cities including Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich and Swindon - with activists putting up English flags and Union Jacks in defiance of council bans. A man was today filmed confronting workers removing the flags in Tower Hamlets, asking an official: 'Who's your boss who's asked you to do it?' When the official refused to answer, he continued: 'The whole of the Isle of Dogs has paid for these flags to be hung, for you to authorise for them to be taken down. What about all the Palestine flags?' Turning to a nearby police officer, he added: 'The rest of the flags that we have brought with our own money he has thrown in the bin, that's theft.' Downing Street today backed people flying British or English flags in their local communities, although - amid the ongoing rows between residents and some councils - No10 declined to comment on 'individual cases'. Sir Keir Starmer 's official spokesman said: 'I haven't asked him about specific cases or specific councils, but the PM has always talked about his pride in being British, the patriotism he feels. He's talked about that previously and he's talked about it most recently when the Lionesses had their successful campaign in the Euros.' Asked if Sir Keir was in support of people putting up English flags, his official spokesman replied: 'Absolutely.' He highlighted how St George flags are flown in Downing Street 'every time' England's men's or women's football teams play in important games. Campaigners were today seen painting roundabouts in Birmingham in England colours after officials sparked fury last week by tearing down St George's Crosses in the south of the city over claims they posed a safety risk. Operation Raise the Colours supporters filmed themselves putting up England flags in Tower Hamlets last night, but this morning workers from the local council were pictured this morning swiftly removing them with metal poles. Tower Hamlets 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'. 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. 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.' Tyrone, a cleaner who works for Tower Hamlets council, was tasked this morning with cutting down England and Union Jack flags from lampposts and dumping them in the rubbish. But his colleague decided to leave and finish his job tomorrow due to the amount of abuse he and his colleague had been receiving from frustrated locals. When the Daily Mail approached for a chat, Tyrone was surrounded by agitated residents urging him to stop. 'This is a f***ing joke' one of them shouted, before adding: 'We're going put them back up anyway.' 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?' and say ''Don't take them down' and ''The mayor's a w****r''. 'And 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. 'But I'm just doing my job and I'm not going to let them hinder me from what I am doing. 'But my colleague is going [because of the abuse] and I need someone to watch my back while I'm doing this. 'So we will come back tomorrow around 6.30am to remove the rest when there aren't so many people around who will get upset. 'Palestinian, Jamaican, English whatever my job is to keep the road clean.' Previous displays of Palestine flags across the east London borough prompted a legal challenge from campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which said they could ' intimidate Jewish people' and 'encourage violence against them '. Sue Reid for the Daily Mail revealed in a report last year how some local Jewish people were so frightened they were making plans to move. 'We feel they would like to see the back of us,' one successful Jewish woman in her 40s, who lives in the area, said. 'Anti-Semitism is being normalised here in Tower Hamlets. The majority seem to think this is perfectly all right.' One mother in her early 50s said: 'I am the mother of a boy who goes to primary school in the borough. We have lived here for four years but we are leaving, even to go abroad, before he goes to secondary.' The Palestine flags were put up after Israel's invasion of Gaza in 2023. But Mr Rahman - mayor of Tower Hamlets - announced a year later that he had made the 'difficult' decision to order the removal of the flags after they became the focus of 'media attacks'. He had previously rejected the suggestion they were symbols of division. Mr Rahman was kicked out of office in 2015 after an election court found him guilty of a series of charges, including electoral fraud and spiritual intimidation of voters. Approximately 39.9 per cent of people in the borough are Muslim, the largest proportion of any local authority area in the UK. A number of St George's flags have been put up across Tower Hamlets over recent days. In response, a spokesman for the council vowed to remove them. '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.' But David Simmonds MP, Shadow Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government, told the Mail: 'Tower Hamlets Council dragged their feet on taking down unlawful Palestinian flags, yet the moment people put up the flag of England or Union Jacks they send staff out to rip them down. 'Any two-tier perception – that councils turn a blind eye to foreign political banners but crack down on our national flags – is deeply corrosive to social cohesion. Where there are laws restricting what is put up on street furniture, they should be forced equally. 'We should never be ashamed of our own national flags. Conservatives will always defend the right of people to fly them proudly: they should be symbols that unite us all.' Operation Raise the Colours began on Facebook and has spread across the country. It appears to have its roots in Birmingham, where scores of British flags sprung up in the suburb of Northfield. Birmingham City Council quickly confirmed it would begin ripping them down and claimed they posed a safety risk despite flying high above the traffic. A backlash to the decision deepened further after officials privately admitted they were too scared to take down Palestine flags without extra security. In a leaked email obtained by the Mail, council cabinet member Majid Mahmood said of the Palestine flags hanging from lampposts in February: 'We 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.' Critics also pointed out that the city's library was being lit up in the colours of the Pakistan flag to mark the anniversary of the country's independence, followed by the Indian flag. Government guidance published in 2021 states that flags 'are a very British way of expressing joy and pride ' and that they wanted to see 'more flags flown, particularly the Union flag'. An extract from the guidance reads: 'It is a symbol of national unity and pride. The government has recently issued guidance encouraging the flying of the Union Flag on all UK government buildings throughout the year, alongside other national and local flags. 'We are keen for local authorities and other local organisations to follow suit. We have made it easier for the Union Flag to be flown alongside other flags, so organisations can highlight their local identities, as well as their national identities, and celebrate special days or events which champion civic pride.'
The Sun
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Fury as SECOND council vows to rip down St George's flags from lampposts… after Palestinian banners left up for months
FURY was sparked after a SECOND council ordered the removal of St George's flags. Residents have hit out after Tower Hamlets Council, in east London, announced the patriotic displays would be ripped down. 10 10 The Union Jack and St George's flags were raised by locals as part of a movement online called Operation Raise the Colours. But Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman, who was found guilty of electoral fraud in 2015, has thwarted the campaign. The national flags will now be removed "as part of routine maintenance". Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, told The Telegraph: "Tower Hamlets council have allowed Palestinian flags to be publicly displayed on lampposts but not the flag of our country. "This absurd national self-loathing must end. This is yet more two-tier bias against the British people. We must be one country united under the Union flag." Tower Hamlets Council previously sparked controversy when they allowed Palestinian flags to be raised after the war in Gaza broke out in 2023. They were eventually removed last year after members of the local Jewish community reported they found them 'oppressive and intimidating'. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, added: 'Why would we leave [Palestinian flags] up and take down flags that represent one of the countries of the UK?' A spokesperson for the council said: "We are aware members of the public have been putting up St George's flags on various structures. "While we recognise people wish to express their views, we have a responsibility to monitor and maintain council infrastructure. Protesters arrested near migrant hotel after 'asylum seeker guest' arrested on suspicion of assault "Where flags are attached to council-owned infrastructure without permission, they may be removed as part of routine maintenance." This comes after locals put up the St George's flags on houses and streetlights in Northfield, Birmingham, in what was described as a show of "patriotic outpouring". The Union Jack and St George's flags were put up using ladders and cable ties by a group of residents called the Weoley Warriors. Funded by £2,500 of public donations, the campaign is intended to 'show Birmingham and the rest of the country of how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements'. But Birmingham City Council confirmed the flags will be removed, saying the "unauthorised items" are "dangerous" and could potentially kill motorists and pedestrians. The council said that the extra weight could "potentially lead to collapse" in the future. 10 10 10 10 However, the council's decision has sparked backlash from residents. One unnamed flag-flying resident told BirminghamLive that the patriotic bunting had been put up because people in the area have "had enough". "This country is a disgrace and has no backbone," they said. "This isn't racism, it's frustration at being pushed into a corner and silenced." Jeremy Duthie, from Weoley Castle, also told the outlet: "My personal opinion is that anyone who has a problem with our national flag being flown is living in the wrong country and should maybe consider living in the country represented by whatever flag they prefer to see flying." Many have also pointed out that Palestinian flags were flying in other parts of the city to show solidarity over the Gaza crisis as well as Ukrainian flags for the last 18 months. And the council also lit up the Library of Birmingham in green and white to mark the anniversary of Pakistan's independence day yesterday. But a spokesman for the council said: "People who attach unauthorised items to lampposts could be putting their lives and those of motorists and pedestrians at risk. "Placing unauthorised attachments on street furniture, particularly tall structures like lampposts, can be dangerous." The council added: "Lampposts and other street furniture need to be protected which is why highways staff across the city removed around 200 advertising banners and flags that had been attached to lampposts since the start of this year. "They take down attachments from lampposts routinely, including advertising signs, bunting trails and flags." GROWING UNREST It comes as tensions across the country continue to rise, with hundreds of protestors gathering in the capital yesterday. Six people were arrested amid the demonstrations, which saw people setting off smoke flares and waving England flags outside The Britannia Hotel, in the Isle of Dogs. The majority of protesters had dispersed from the area by Sunday evening, cops said. The Met Police imposed conditions using Section 14 of the Public Order Act to prevent serious disruption at the protests in Canary Wharf. It comes after a migrant in his 20s was arrested for common assault after entering a woman's flat on Friday. The incident occurred on Wednesday night before he was detained by nearby members of the public. He was arrested by police on suspicion of common assault and he remains in custody. The Daily Mail reported that the man was a migrant staying in a Canary Wharf hotel. He reportedly entered the woman's house after being told to "go back to the hotel" where anti-migrant protestors were gathered. The 22-year-old woman whose flat he entered was arrested on Wednesday evening. Channay Augustus has since been charged with a number of offences including possession of an offensive weapon, affray, assault on an emergency worker, common assault and possession of cannabis. The affray and common assault charge relate to an incident at the Britannia Hotel in Marsh Wall which occurred on Wednesday evening. It concerned an alleged attack on a security guard at the hotel. The Britannia Hotel has been the subject of recent protests after it was used for migrants arriving into Britain. A Tower Hamlets Council spokesman told The Sun previously: 'We are aware of the Government's decision to use the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf to provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers. 'It is important that the Government ensures that there is a full package of support for those staying at the hotel. We are working with the Home Office and partners to make sure that all necessary safety and safeguarding arrangements are in place." Elsewhere, in Epping, a peaceful protest took place yesterday evening. 10 10 10
