Workers being hired to take down flags in city

COUNCIL WANTED TO KEEP LID ON MOVE FOR FEAR OF ANGERING ACTIVISTS

- JANE HAYNES News Reporter

Flag across Birmingham will now be taken down

CONTRACTORS working for Birmingham City Council are to embark on a month-long nighttime ‘blitz’ to take down ‘unauthorised’ flags across the city.

Newly-recruited staff will be taking to the streets in darkness throughout October to remove the Union and St George's Cross flags which have appeared by the hundreds in communities across the city.

The move comes amid increasing confrontations between pro and anti-flaggers, with those putting them up and anyone trying to take them down facing abuse and challenge.

The political motivations of those involved in running operations have also been questioned.

Adverts for temporary staff to operate cherry pickers overnight are currently live on multiple recruitment websites. Their role will be to ‘remove flags and other unauthorised items’ that have gone up on lampposts and public property across the city.

It is understood the city council had sought to keep the details of the operation quiet for fear of antagonising organisations behind the mass flagging of city areas. There are also said to be fears for the safety of workers.

But the sheer proliferation of flags has forced the council to act.

Council leader John Cotton had previously issued a plea to flaggers to stop adding more.