London, Yiannis Haniotakis

A new, organized campaign to suspend the English flag in cities and villages across the country has triggered a strong confrontation lately. While its organizers insist that it is a purely patriotic move, human rights organizations are fearing that, in the midst of a climate of anti -immigration demonstrations and growing far -right activity, this initiative could prove to be divisive and dangerous.

“This is not racist, it has never been and it will never be,” he says on the donation page of a team that calls himself “Wythall Flaggers”. By Tuesday afternoon, the team had gathered more than £ 2,000, mainly from small 5 and 10 pounds. “We have members of the community of all ethnicities and religions that pass and praise what we do, so please do not call it racist.”

The purpose, according to the page manager, is to use the money to “dress the local community with English flags, because here is our home and we must be patriots and proud … We need help to cover every road to Wythall with the beautiful cross of St. George”.

However, not everyone agrees in this village of Worcestershire, south of Birmingham. Material posted on social media this week allegedly showing an elderly couple using a ladder to remove the English flag from a rolling of lighting in the village. According to the Guardian, a comment on their social media described them as “traitors”.

The central organization of the movement seems to be through the Facebook page “Operation Raise the Colors”, which urges its members to post images with the flags of the four British nations “rising in our great cities”. Users from Walsall, Coventry and Redditch have posted flags in lighting columns, painted in small roundabouts and stacked, ready for post.

However, activists against racism are concerned about the motives and the time of movement. “We are worried that the debate on the English flag and patriotism provides coverage to the racism motivated by the far -right and – by the way – by politicians of all shades,” said Lewis Nielsen of Stand Up to Racism. “We believe that the movement is quite dangerous and comes at a turning point where the far -right is trying to strengthen it.”

The action, which appears to be launched last month in the suburbs of Birmingham Weoley Castle and Northfield, has now spread. The controversy escalated when the city council said it would remove banners and flags from lighting columns as part of a LED lighting upgrade plan. In many neighborhoods, social media posts claimed that “patriots” placed new flags as soon as municipal officials removed them.

The Birmingham Council clarified that it has no flag removal policy, stating that it is proudly raising the British flag outside the town hall every day. “As for objects attached to lighting columns, it is common for the Council to be removed on a regular basis. As has always been the case, citizens are free to post flags from their homes or gardens, but we ask not to be annexed to urban equipment, “the town hall cited as security reasons.

The dispute further intensified when the Municipality of Tower Hamlets in London, which has been an ignition for anti -immigration demonstrations, confirmed this week that it was removing the flags of St. George from lighting columns. In the opposite climate, 12 Municipal Councils controlled by the Reform Party have pledged jointly on Monday that they would not download British or English flags, calling them “symbols of unity and inclusion”.

Asked about the issue, Prime Minister Kir Starmer’s official spokesman said the prime minister was a “patriot” and believes that citizens should raise the British and English flag, later noting that he was not aware of the Hammigs.

In the meantime, the “Operation Raise the Colors” has ambitions to spread even further. “Over 800 people in less than 40 hours is impressive and shows the passion of the world for it,” one team administrator posted on Tuesday.