(Stock image) Shropshire Council has said it will take the flags down (Image: Getty)
Supporters of flying the national flag have reacted with fury after a council announced it would be removing the emblems from street furniture. A national patriotic movement developed over the past two years which has seen local activists attach the English and UK flags to lampposts up and down the country. Similar movements in Wales and Scotland also saw the national flags of those countries being raised.
But many councils have taken the decision to remove the impromtu displays of national pride, with some local authorities branding the flag-flying “intimidating” and “divisive” rather than patriotic. Shropshire Council is the latest to announce it will be “removing all unauthorised flags from our street lighting columns and other highway assets”.
But supporters of the flag movement have already started raising funds to oppose the council, with a group called Raise The Flags Shrewsbury “Plus” so far receiving more than £6,300 in donations on GoFundMe.
Read more: UK council takes legal action against ‘intimidating’ St George’s flags
Read more: Urgent call to tear down flags on lampposts in major UK city
(Stock image) The council said the flags could be a health and safety issue (Image: Andy Stenning/ Express)
The page organiser said the donations would be used to “stop the flags of our country in our town being destroyed” and “ripped” and “torn”. A statement on the site added: “We are an organisation purely set up from the decades of lies we’ve been feed (sic) by powers to get in government.”
Andy Munro, the mayor of the Shropshire town of Church Stretton, said there had been allegations men erecting the flags had “threatened” several women who confronted them when they were putting up the flags.
GB News reports Mr Munro said: “Most particularly, we received phone calls from a number of women who had gone out to see what the commotion was, and they were threatened and abused by the people putting up the flags.
“We can have the debate about the rights and wrongs of the flags, but I don’t think anybody will agree that it’s right under any circumstances for women alone at night to be threatened.”
The local authority wants to get rid of the flags (Image: Getty)
Local flag activist John Cunningham, who installed the flags, rejected the allegations of threatening behaviour. He said: “We had a donation for Church Stretton, like we do everywhere else, and we try to get out as quick as possible.
He described an encounter during the installation: “The second flag as we put it up, on an eight-to-nine-foot lamp-post, this woman came out to confront us.”
In a statement Shropshire Council said: “We will be removing all unauthorised flags from our street lighting columns and other highway assets. This will be in Shrewsbury initially with plans to remove all unauthorised flags across the county in time.
“This includes flags that are damaged or unsafe, creating a hazard, obstructing signs, posing risks following severe weather, installed without permission, regardless of condition.
“We are also aware of increasing community tensions, including a rise in reports of abuse directed at our residents, staff, and local councillors. We are working closely with West Mercia Police and local partners to address situations where flags pose safety risks or contribute to harassment, intimidation or damage.”
The council added it recognised the “importance of flags” and that it was working with partners to support “positive alternative, including exploring a locally designed flag”, which the authority said would celebrate “pride in Shropshire in a safe and inclusive way”.