16 hours ago
Fury as SECOND council orders St George's flags to be removed from lampposts after being erected by 'Operation Raise the Colours' patriotism campaigners
A second council has pledged to remove English or British flags tied to lampposts by patriotic campaigners.
Tower Hamlets Council in east London said any St George's Crosses or Union flags put up as part of an online campaign called 'Operation Raise the Colours' would be promptly taken down.
It comes just days after Birmingham City Council was accused of 'bias and absurdity on top of utter incompetence' for ripping down national banners after saying they 'could put lives at risk'.
In recent weeks, Operation Raise the Colours has spread to towns and cities like Swindon, Bradford, Newcastle and Norwich as part of a 'patriotic outpouring'.
The campaign has now reached Tower Hamlets, with Operation Raise the Colours demonstrators filming themselves hanging St George's Crosses from lamposts in the area.
The council, which is run by Lutfur Rahman of the pro-Gaza Aspire Party, has now vowed to remove any flags tied to council property.
Tower Hamlets previously came under fire for allowing Palestinian flags to be displayed on council buildings and lampposts following the outbreak of the war in Gaza in 2023.
Mr Rahman - who was previously found guilty of electoral fraud - finally ordered them to be removed after Jewish locals complained they were 'oppressive and intimidating' and made them feel unwelcome.
Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said allowing the flag of another country to fly in London, but not the St George's Cross or Union flags, was an example of 'absurd national self-loathing'.
'Tower Hamlets council have allowed Palestinian flags to be publicly displayed on lampposts but not the flag of our country,' he told The Telegraph.
'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.'
Mr Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets, 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.
Previous displays of Palestine flags across the borough prompted a legal challenge from legal 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.'
Mr Rahman later announced 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.
Hundreds of St George's flags and Union Jacks were hung up around several areas in the south of Birmingham
Birmingham City Council claimed the flags represent a danger to both motorists and pedestrians and ordered for them to be removed
A number of St George's flags have been put up across Tower Hamlets in 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.'
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.'
However, it also warns that flags must not 'obscure, or hinder the interpretation of official road, rail, waterway or aircraft signs, or otherwise make hazardous the use of these types of transport'.
