Union flags put up by anti-immigrant group spark street clashes in UK

Tracey36

I am sickened & annoyed that my country's flag is being totally misappropriated by racists.

Chris Nimmo34

I look at these flags and feel despair for what had happened in England. There’s nothing to be proud of here !

Actual Dean32

For fans of alliteration; Bigot bunting

Griffin30

Nazi bunting - exactly what they are using it for😔 Scourge of Britian.

Donna27

What the bellends who put these flags up don't realise is that they're being played big time.

rantover.bsky.social24

Guess who supports the thugs. Yes, Farage and the Sun. www.thesun.co.uk/news/3673441...

Wren 💙20

I live in a multicultural area. The flags went up near the mosques & in 'working class' areas of town. Thankfully, most of the flags have been taken down now. I feel sick when I see them. It's so sad that too many of us feel like this at the sight of our own country flag.

Virginia19

I Drive to Epping once a week and pass the Bell hotel to , the flags everywhere at half mast and tatty Temu with people holding their odious vigil are so depressing. I’ve no idea what would make anyone believe this makes you British or patriotic .

History and Heritage Yorkshire17

As I've written before I’ve never felt much sense of patriotism, at least not in the traditional way. Flags, bloodlines and national pride don’t stir anything strong in me at all. Personal things like familiarity, experience, family, friends and the small details that make it feel like home do.

Susan Taylor #IStandWithUkraine #RejoinEU #FBPE16

Oh I would definitely look at these flags with fear and loathing. The far right and Reform have taken this too far with their flag shagging. Straight out of the Nazi playbook. However there are more of us decent people who are repulsed by this ridiculous idea. We are stronger together.

MartyH16

My mood changes when I drive into an area flying flags. It’s depressing, because it’s a show not of positive pride, but negative hatred of anyone who’s (to them) different or not British or mostly not white and English. I want to get away from them as quickly as I can.

TheBossRoss 🧶12

Patriotism is when you love your home, nationalism is when you hate everyone else. Flags can be both. Look at those lining the street at royal occasions when everything'sal a celebration. But today's are put up as signs of rejection and hate against newcomers and those perceived to be different.

Northern Monkey - ANTIFA12

I look at them with amusement, as the idiots that put them up only seem to get them the right way 50% of the time. For a group that are apparently so proud of their flag you think they’d know which way to hang it. It’s almost as if they’re just ignorant, uneducated, arseholes.

European Paul12

I would happily fly the flag if the intention was to represent the British values of tolerance and fairness. However in the hands of the right it has come to represent the exact opposite. The Nazis used flags in a similar fashion.

Laurie Dunkin Wedd12

Paid for by Americans. Who also funded the hatred and flag-shagging in the Northern Ireland Troubles. 😡

Derek Nozedar11

They are all over certain streets near to where I live, mainly what where solid Labour areas both for MP’s and councillors. They have nothing to do with having pride in the UK.

Jeswings11

'The Raise the Colours co-founder Ryan Bridge said in an interview with the BBC that the area was “hijacked” by the “far-left”.' Looking at the picture, it's been highjacked by the far right. Bridge invaded Stirchley. He doesn't seem to have done the same in his own leafy road in Bromsgrove.

Dr Toby Driver11

Loads of these on the Shrewsbury bypass & approach roads on Monday, then added to by Friday. I cannot believe these can be systematically installed with a high lift on a dual carriageway without attracting the attention of the police 🤷😦

Cartimandua9

It’s appalling and terrifying for local residents. My daughter knows the people who were attacked. Question is why the council and police aren’t doing more to stop it

Grumpy Middle Aged White Guy9

Local councillors and MP’s have generally refused to take action over this, despite it being a crime to damage highways infrastructure. There’s a flag outside the office of my local MP, @andymacnaemp.bsky.social, which has been allowed to remain. This kind of cowardice emboldens the racist scum.

James D. Worth9

These people should be in jail. Why are our leaders pandering to criminality and hate? Under the Highways Act 1980 (Section 132), it is an offence to affix or hang flags, banners, or signs to street furniture (such as lampposts, traffic lights, and road signs).

Martyn9

Saw a bloke in our hotel in Greece this morning with a Union Jack t-shirt, immediately made me think he supports reform. It's so disappointing they've tainted our flag.

The Bishop 🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦🇨🇦🏴‍☠️💙8

It is the old “if you are not with us, you are against us” approach — indeed a classic authoritarian fascist tactic used to pressure people into conformity and support. I would also add, that excessive displays of nationalism and constant flag-waving have historically rarely led anywhere positive.

shelagh9.bsky.social8

Flags should inspire unity not blind ideology.

Alan Rodgers7

Welcome to Northern Ireland, 60+ years of flag abuse to promote hate, instil fear and perpetuate subjugation.

Antifa Crone7

Because the far right don’t have their own identity, they need it from a flag. I’ve never given two shits about a piece of cloth except what I was wearing.

Soph05716

I grew up in the troubles and flags used by thugs to mark their territory, intimidate and threaten were an everyday part of life Those flags let you know if that area was a safe space or a dangerous space for you - they were exclusionary in intent and practice Same playbook here. To the letter

Ibárruri lives...6

As an ex infantry soldier the term "raise the colours" is something quite sacred. Seeing these feckless arses dishonour the term boils my piss!! I'm grateful every day that I took my family out of thr Uk in 2017.... we will never return..

DJ Markymarc6

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Does no harm? Doesn't raise division. Like hell it didn't.

Ceri P 🇺🇦 🇬🇱 🇪🇺4

On occasions I’ve suddenly come across one at half mast and thought the King had died. They so soon look ragged and scruffy and a half torn flag is hardly a good indicator of patriotism

carldw4

Haven’t we seen this sort of flag patriotism before ? 🤔

Alan White4

Brings back memories of the National Front and BNP back in the 70s and 80s. Are we really regressing to that?!! 😡

Mr_Eos4

I look at them with disappointment

The Ghost Of Gerald Cid4

And now the original flags are looking tatty, worn and generally make the places they're up in look shit. But nobody takes them down in case the nobheads who put them up get upset and kick off.

Gus Harris-Reid (EngineMasters trilogy out now!)3

Besides the bigotry, it's just so tacky and tasteless 😩 If you really respected the flag and wanted to see it flown more, you'd promote it being flown from public buildings, etc, not lampposts!

Samantha Meows3

I hate them. Half of them are upside down here.

TitoBridge3

When Reform destroys what remains of UK's welfare state and there's nothing left in the pantry, they'll have to eat the flags. Hopefully we won't get to that, as there're lots of Brits that hate how their symbols are used by bigots. As an immigrant, I hope your voice is louder than their hatred.

Apples n Spice3

The flags are also a sign of great insecurity. A show of weakness and emotional desperation. I feel disgust but also think ridiculous to see the desperation/racism all over my egg cartons or veg. What an insecure, embarrassing form of Britishness clinging to lies and shoving flags in everyone faces

Susanita2

I think they do us a service . Areas like this signal to me , car windows up , door lock on …. & keep driving 😜

Colin Boden2

They say a waitrose in an area boosts house prices. These flags will have the opposite effect. They don’t represent patriotism. The exact opposite.

happy little space bunny2

Speaking of flags, I notice that somebody has been listening to their Russian paymasters ... www.bbc.com/news/article...

Balint Marczin 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇭🇺2

I'm not scared of the flags as an immigrant. What terrifies me is that the people putting them up represent none of the modern British values. That they'd chant things like "send them back".

ralphfarrugia.bsky.social2

Fear? No. Loathing for the people that put them up? Yes. They put them up and then just leave them to rot into weathered tatters. My beautiful flags left to wither like a hateful metaphor for my ailing beautiful country. I hate them for making me hate them and their base stupidity.

falconer59.bsky.social2

There is a house near me its windows covered with a union jack and england flag instead of curtains .do I want to meet whoever lives there hell no.

fraac2

Need strong leadership to reclaim the flag.

Lost in History, OBC 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🇺🇦🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦2

Two flags on the same pole? In UK usage that is disrespectful. Though, most of them are disrespectful to the flag.

James Austin42

Also shows just how centralised and organised it is as a 'movement'

Dom White20

Very clear from these actions that the aim is to be confrontational and divisive. I know this area well and it’s obvious that most local residents don’t support putting the flags up.

Liv's Gaze(4 the gays🌈)16

Yup. I don’t have any issue with our national flag (why would I 🤷🏻‍♀️), but it should be flown outside public buildings or whatever. Some tatty rag that a racist put up a lamppost is…tacky

hawksland.bsky.social11

and then made to litter pick across the community they decided needed flags

Syd Barhey Esq. FCA. #FBPE9

Real patriots ..... 1) Are kind to their neighbours; 2) Look after the communities they live in; 3) Volunteer and help out where they can; 4) Do their civic duties including voting and paying their taxes; 5) Are selfless in service. Flying a flag doesn't make anyone a patriot.

Roland Butter7

I suspect a fair number of those putting them up will have been off duty police officers. In my experience many officers are far right. This factor may affect the willingness to carry out arrests!

Cilantro4

I think an organisation should just follow them around adding EU and Rainbow flags. If the police don't stop one set of flags being attached to street furniture then they can't stop another.

Matthew Perren4

There was a brief attempt made locally to put saltaires up on lamposts. They were neatly removed. When they went back up they were ripped down leaving tatters behind. They have mot since reappeared.

Nick from Toy-Fu3

I live near here (passed Raise The Flag and their bloody van on Pershore Road on Thursday evening) and the place is festooned. They've also been putting them back so high up the street lights now they're hard to see without craning your neck, so residents can't reach them even with a 12ft ladder.

victoria1921.bsky.social3

Farage Riots. Textbook Project 2025. Trump's authoritarian regime is busy gerrymandering - removing hard won voting rights for non white people. Approved in "red", Southern states, banned in "blue" Democratic states. Farage wants inhumane ICE detention centres in UK. Death camps for innocent people

Kris (he/him)3

"man hit by van" - what a naughty van, why did it hit the man?

Bill Heywood2

They are the violent racist ar*eholes we all knew they were

Mrs MoonCakes.8

Yeah… shit, isn’t it…? The van had a driver…who is responsible.

Treacle6

But the far right and those of us on the left are the same according to Keir.

Simon5

I have skin in the game as I grew up in that area so imagine my pure anger at the gobshites when I saw this from @localnotail.bsky.social via @davidbutlin.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/loca...

River Cavy ♿️4

Vans don’t kill people, people do.

Justin4

This is a far right terrorist attack, inspired by Farage et al 😔

Tocoso3

Of course its not attempted murder by racist thug!

Alastair #FBPE 🇪🇺🇵🇸 🇺🇦🇨🇦6

Mahmood would do well to proscribe herself

ChrisMcS524

Appalling behaviour on our streets - no place for fascists on our streets. I hope the injured gentleman makes a swift recovery.

omgstarsk.bsky.social3

I totally agree with you, Andy.

Iain Nicol5

I'm old enough to remember drivers deliberately mowing down pedestrians (rightly) being considered terrorism.

Suzanne 🇵🇸 she/her2

Misan Harriman is currently being smeared for calling out the press this way, and someone tried a similar smear tactic on me on here last week, and I'm just little ol me. They think we can't see what the press and government are doing, and if we do we're peddling conspiracies and other smears.