Overview

• Tower Hamlets Council said it will strip unauthorised Union Jack and St George’s flags from council-owned lampposts under routine maintenance rules
• Birmingham City Council reported removing around 200 unauthorised items from street furniture this year, including Palestinian flags, to prevent risks to pedestrians and motorists
• ‘Operation Raise the Colours’, an online-organised grassroots movement, has seen patriotic flags affixed to street furniture in towns such as Swindon, Bradford, Newcastle and Norwich
• Senior Conservative figures including Robert Jenrick and Lee Anderson condemned the removals as evidence of a two-tier approach to national symbols and alleged bias against British flags
• Protests outside the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf over migrant housing drew smoke flares and led to six arrests under Section 14 conditions imposed by the Met Police