A city in England has seen St George’s flags flown “everywhere” with some defiant locals saying they can’t be stopped from raising the English flag. People in villages, towns and cities continue to fly flags from lampposts and paint red lines on white road markings despite some officials issuing warnings, but a local claims Derby is “one of the best” in the country.
Alan Southall, 62, said it was fantastic to see the city embracing its culture, adding those involved were a credit to Derby. He said: “Over the last week, more and more have been cropping up. Now we must be one of the best areas in the country for it.”
The flying of flags from lampposts and daubing of crosses on street furniture, bollards and dustbins has divided opinion among Brits. Some hail them as a display of patriotism while others say it’s a front for far-right activists to spread racism and anti-migrant sentiments.
Mr Southall defended the campaign, known as Operation Raise the Colours. He told the Derby Telegraph: “It’s embracing our country – the thousand years we’ve been around and the way we live life.
“People say the flag is racist or offensive, which in itself shows that there is a problem. They can’t stop us from flying our flag. I’ve already seen a few taken down, but, miraculously, they just appear again overnight.”
Derby businessman, Hassan Ali, 38, arrived at work to find a Union Jack flying above his premises.
He told the same publication: “You’d probably expect me to be offended, but far from it. I’m a Muslim, but I’m also English. I love this country and it’s nice to see people representing our flag.
“I don’t care if the flags are being flown to stop immigration. If that’s what people want, that’s what people want.
“But the problem is the select few who take it too far. England has been a multicultural country for decades, so there’s nothing new there, and if you think that Britain needs to be an all-white place where everyone is Christian, that’s just not going to happen.
“Those are the people we need to worry about, the supremacists – not people who are against mass-immigration, which is a normal thing to feel.”
Another local, Victoria Matthews, said she didn’t take the campaign too seriously. She said: “People are worried about immigration this and that, but I think it’s all just a big stir. People are winding each other up online, and some people have taken offence and gone out and tried to act on it.
“The whole thing is pretty funny to me, it’s all a bit of a laugh. Seeing so many people up in arms on both sides is just ridiculous. God forbid [when] we are actually faced with serious problems. Who knows what we’d do then?”
Derbyshire County Council’s transport chief, Councillor Charlotte Hill, said flags attached to lampposts will only be removed if they pose a danger.
She said: “The council’s highways policy sets out a risk-based approach to managing these sorts of issues, including flags being attached to street lights, so that we can make sure that our roads and pavements are safe for everyone to use.
“If we are made aware that flags have been attached to lamp posts we will assess to see if these pose a danger to the public, and only remove them if they do pose a danger. It is highly unlikely that we will remove the majority of flags. We will take the same approach if flags are painted on roundabouts.”