Community tensions Remove flags after Remembrance Day, says MP

THE MP for the Bristol South constituency has called on the people who have been putting up scores of St George and Union Jack flags on lampposts across the area to keep them up for Remembrance Day next month, but take them down after that.

- Tristan CORK

Flags on lamppposts along West Street in Bedminster last month

(Pic: Paul Gilli)

Karin Smyth MP said she has been contacted by an ‘increasing number’ of people expressing concern about the flags, which had been ‘unlawfully placed’ on council-owned infrastructure.

In a statement, the Labour MP said she backed the flying of flags to celebrate or commemorate events - from England playing in the World Cup to Remembrance Day - but said the current proliferation of flags in the street on council property like lampposts were ‘seen by many to be divisive and racist’, because those behind the campaign were ‘seeking to exploit legitimate worries’ about issues.

South Bristol has seen some of the most controversy over the ‘Raise the Colours’ campaign since it began in late August and early September. Residents in some areas have overwhelmingly backed those tying flags to lampposts, while residents of other areas - notably in Bedminster - have countered with teddy bears tied to lampposts with messages and posters celebrating the area’s multicultural community, or simply by taking the flags down.