Fresh flying of flags leaves community divided

People in a community are split in their views over the latest hanging of union jacks in part of Birmingham, with some supporting them and others calling for them come down.

The flags went up during the week in Moseley on lamp-posts and other structures, and those in favour of them say they are a display of national pride.

But others in the community see the flags as an attempt to sow division - thousands have been put up across the country since last summer.

Carol Williams, from Kings Heath, said: "We want a Moseley where everyone feels safe and belongs and the flags don't say that."

She plans to stand as an independent candidate for Moseley in the city council elections in May and said: "The flags are a symbol of division, they're a deliberate symbol of division and so they have to come down."

She said Moseley was a "multicultural community" and that the community needed to stand against attempts to divide people.

Danielle Saunders, 35, who lives in Moseley, said: "I just think its a poor way to display patriotism.

"I just feel although soggy flags that look a bit tattered don't really represent who we are in this community."

But Keith Rackham, 76, said: "I see no harm in it whatsoever."

He added: "Whoever it's upsetting, it's all in their mind. Why get annoyed about it?"

Rackham also drew attention to people demonstrating with Palestinian flags and flags of other countries.

He said: "The other nationalities are doing exactly the same, but you find English, we never really bother do we?"

"You're worrying over nothing."

Bob Khan, 56, the owner of Cafephilia in Moseley, said he confronted a group of 10-15 people who put some of the flags up, only to be told that he was being racist himself.

He said he had no issue with the flags when they went up for special occasions or for sports tournaments, but questioned the motives of the people putting up the flags.

Khan believed they were linked to people "setting up a lot of racial tension" in the country.

"When you're coming into a community where people don't want your flags up, you're trying to antagonise people," he said.

From last summer, English and British flags have been put up in towns and cities all over the country, with those responsible saying it was an expression of national pride.

Those opposing the flags said they were a deliberate attempt to stir up racial tension and were linked to the debate about immigration at the time.

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