Lamp-post flags organiser has 'no regrets'

Flags started appearing on lamp-posts across south Birmingham in the summer

One of the men behind a campaign that has seen Union and St George's Cross flags appear on lamp-posts across Birmingham says he has no regrets over the actions, despite dividing opinion as to the motivations behind them.

Banners first appeared in the city throughout summer via a variety of organised movements before spreading across the country, with many claiming they showed pride and unity.

But others have not welcomed them due to the St George's Cross being used as an emblem by far-right groups, including the English Defence League.

Among those erecting flags is Ryan Bridge, who said the next step for his Raise the Colours campaign was to maintain the flags that were already up.

Barnt Green, Alvechurch and Blackwell are among the areas Mr Bridge and associates have concentrated their flags mission, which he said had upset "white, liberal middle classes".

"I'm sorry for offending anybody about the flag of our country. It's all of our country - we're a multi-faith, multi-religion, multicultural country and we should all be as one.

"Why would I regret the support and raising of the flag of our country, our beautiful country that we all live in and we all love?"

Denying the actions had anything to do with race, Mr Bridge said his group were all Birmingham City fans living in a multicultural city, who drank in Irish pubs, and had mixed-race, Asian and black friends and were "all as one".

He said the project's aim had been to "raise a bit of colour to the streets after all the negativity from what's going on in the government these days".

Villagers in tears

Flags began appearing across the country amid growing tensions around immigration across the UK.

Villagers living where "well-known" Mr Bridge had erected flags said non-white people in the area felt scared to walk the streets.

"Some people have been in tears because of the clear far-right racism that these flags represent," one said.

"Most people in Blackwell want a united community that supports neighbours regardless of their background. A genuine patriot would respect people who do not want flags in their village."

Mr Bridge said he had no regrets

Last week, footage of a confrontation in Stirchley, Birmingham, went viral, with a Raise the Colours activist accused of spreading hate.

And last month, Bob Maloney, from Birmingham Stand up to Racism, said his group was suspicious of the motives behind the flags, which were being used, he suggested, to cause division.

"This is not acceptable, this is a successful, multicultural, vibrant city and we want to keep it that way," he told the BBC.

Clusters of flags began appearing on lamp-posts in south Birmingham in July, growing in number, and, in one neighbourhood, well into four figures within the space of a mile or so.

That activity was said, following a BBC investigation, to have come off the back of an issue earlier in the summer in which a schoolgirl wearing a Union flag dress was not allowed to give a speech on being British.

The flags were linked to a group called the Weoley Warriors, which, in social media posts about the banners, used a hashtag Operation Raise the Colours - itself linked to flag activity in Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and Staffordshire.

'Displaying flags not new'

Mr Bridge has previously said his similarly named group is a different set-up, telling the BBC on Thursday his operation had emerged in the neighbouring Solihull borough.

He suggested the practice of displaying flags there was nothing new and had gone on for years, initially, he said, with the Royal British Legion (RBL), and the current campaign "tagged on to the back of that" before it "exploded", spreading out across Birmingham and towards Worcestershire.

A spokesman for the Royal British Legion said: "The Royal British Legion is a non-partisan organisation and is not affiliated with any flag-raising groups.

"We respect the right of individuals to display their national flag and express their views, however there is no connection between flag-raising and the Royal British Legion or the Poppy Appeal."

Flags have been going up across the country since July, and include this roundabout in Brownhills

Describing himself as an "old school Brummie", Mr Bridge said he came from a working class family and the era of Cool Britannia and Noel Gallagher's "iconic" union jack guitar, and, lamented what he noted as a loss of national identity.

"We just need to bring back the old school values," he added.

He said he grew up in Birmingham at a time when his grandparents had a tea service with images of the-then Prince Charles and Princess Diana, adding that people waved union jacks for a royal visit to Selly Oak, and as a cub scout he walked down the high street waving the same colours.

'Bringing people together'

Mr Bridge confirmed his campaign had been taking donations from the public and said 100% of the money was spent on sending flags to people all over the country.

He said the activities were not profitable and campaigners had been "chipping in themselves".

Displaying the flags, he told the BBC, was "nothing to do with the pigment in anyone's skin".

He said "the race word" had nothing to do with any of the group's activities, which were "bringing people together", getting back the "old school Brummie values".

Of the white, middle class liberals he said were behind complaints, he said: "I think they're the ones that have lost their true values of what Birmingham is all about."