Fury as UK council that branded Brits flying flags ‘far right’ tear down 78 | UK | News
A London council sparked outrage after dismantling a total of 78 St George’s and Union Jack flags during a two-day festival. Tower Hamlets Council used metal poles to remove British flags from the borough at the height of the “Operation Raise the Colours” movement. The East London authority removed 43 British and English flags on August 18, with a further 35 flags taken down two days later. MailOnline reports.
This month councilors passed a Labor-led motion to label those who fly the national flag as “far-right” extremists. They warned that the county was being targeted by “far-right agitators seeking to foment division”. In response to 22 complaints from the public, the council moved to remove St George’s flags in August, stating that this was “part of routine maintenance”.
Video footage has also emerged showing council workers using long metal poles to knock them down from lampposts before hiding them, sparking outrage.
The removal of St George’s flags was criticized as “outrageous” by Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative group in the London Assembly.
Former London mayoral candidate Ms Hall asked: ‘They let Palestinian flags fly there, why are they taking down British flags? “If they allow other flags to be hoisted, why don’t they allow British flags to be hoisted?”
A municipal worker tasked with removing the flags in August said he was forced to stop because he and his colleague were mistreated by angry locals.
Tyrone, who works as a city cleaner, found himself surrounded by agitated residents who were urging him to stop as he lowered the flags. One resident shouted: “This is a terrible joke… We’re going to put them back anyway.”
Tyrone told the Mail: “I was sent here by my managers to take down these flags. “I don’t know the significance of these flags but I take them down and I get abused by people telling me to leave them down.
“He asked me, ‘What has Britain become?’ they ask. and ‘Don’t take them down’ and ‘The mayor is wrong’ say. And they are disturbed because they say that the Palestinian flags were hung for weeks and months, but the British flags were taken down immediately.
“But I’m just doing my job and I won’t let them get in the way of what I do. But my colleague is leaving [because of the abuse] And I need someone to watch my back while I do it.”
He added that since there were not many people around, they had to return the next day around 6.30am to remove the rest.
A spokesman for Tower Hamlets council said: “We have a policy of removing flags when they appear on council infrastructure and we apply this policy consistently to all flags.
“We therefore raised approximately 1,055 flags between May 2024 and August 2025. Of these, 977 were Palestine Flags and 78 were Union Jack or St George flags.
“Last year, a lot of Palestinian flags were hung, so they were taken down. In the last two months, St George and Union flags were hung, so they were taken down.
“We know people are passionate about flags and will fly flags on private property. We proudly fly many flags at our City Hall to celebrate important national days.”
