The man has said that the symbol has been ‘hijacked’ by right wing politicians
A St George’s Cross flag
A Midland man said he was threatened after he tried to stop a St George’s Cross flag being put up outside his home.
The man, who used the name ‘Bob’ to protect his identity during an interview with BBC WM today, said he did not want the flag displayed as he felt it had negative connotations.
England flags have been painted on roundabouts and buildings up and down the country and flags hung from lamppost in a movement thought to have begun in south Birmingham.
READ MORE: Protest planned for Midland village as drivers warned of road closure
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Bob said he believed the flag had been hijacked by right-wing politicians and he did not want it near his home.
After being threatened over the incident in Stourbridge he reported the altercation to West Midlands Police, Bob told BBC WM.
He said: “I was really quite upset. I felt threatened and we sat in here afterwards and said: ‘Well how might they retaliate?’
“Might they come back at night, might they put another flag up to see how we respond to that? Will there be some kind of, maybe, physical attack?
“I don’t know. We didn’t know. But we both felt very, very threatened.”
Bob said there were no further incidents with the people erecting the flag.
Speaking of his issues with the sudden display of St George’s Cross flags, he added: “The St George’s flag now has quite a number of connotations attached to it.
“But this is a multicultural community and our concern is, and has always been, how would other people sat indoors watching this happen around them having given no permission – how would they feel?
“Does this flag relate to their lives? Because it doesn’t relate to ours.”
He continued: “It is unfortunate but certainly the right wing political groups have hijacked the flag and it’s a shame and it’s nothing to do with the flag itself but it’s got negative connotations attached to it.”
Groups involved in the flag-raising have raised thousands of pounds from the public to fund their work. They have repeatedly insisted there was no racist element and the displays were borne out of patriotism and a desire to reclaim the flag from the far right.
But last week anti-racism groups Birmingham Stand Up Against Racism (BSUAR) and Birmingham Race Impact Group demanded they be removed.
They warned: “This is not innocent “patriotism.” The groups said it was ‘part of a far-right operation aimed at intimidating asylum seekers, migrants, and Muslims, and sowing division in our communities’.