Group of men putting up St George’s flags are ‘attacked with firebomb’

A man was left with a severe gash and blood streaming down his face after he claims he was attacked with ‘a glass bottle containing a lit rag’ just moments after putting up England flags in his home town. 

The man, known as Louis, told police he was struck by the flaming object in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, as he and a group of others were hanging St George’s flags on lampposts and poles just after midnight on Saturday.

Footage from the incident posted on social media by StevenagePatriots shows the bottle ablaze on the ground and close to the rear tyres of a parked car.

The person taking the video can then be heard saying: ‘Putting flags up, got petrol bombed.’

Seconds later, the video shows ‘Louis’ looking shocked and standing with blood running down his face and hands as he awaited emergency services.

The man behind the camera says: ‘Just finished the night, three hours of flagging – and our boy has been petrol bombed.

‘A petrol bomb was thrown at the car, smashed straight onto his head.’

The voice off-camera can then be heard calling those responsible ‘absolute scumbags’ and ‘cowards’.

The incident happened just after midnight on Saturday as the victim, named as ‘Louis’, was out with a group putting up St George’s flags around their local area 

Footage from the shocking incident posted on social media by StevenagePatriots show the bottle ablaze on the ground and close to the rear tyres of a parked car

Louis was helped by paramedics, before being taken off to Lister Hospital in Stevenage for treatment. 

One of the men at the scene, who wished to remain anonymous, told GB News: ‘It is, of course, worrying to see such hostility, but it will never stop us from raising our flag with pride.

‘The fact that people are so quick to attack us is concerning, yet it only makes us more determined to stand firm in who we are.’

He added: ‘My message is simple: keep going, keep waving your flags, because we are a country that does not surrender – and we never will.’ 

Hertfordshire Police confirmed officers were called to reports of a man being assaulted in Fairlands Way, Stevenage, at 12.09am on Saturday, August 23.

Chief Inspector Sarah Gilbertson of Herts Police said: ‘Officers attended and spoke with the victim, a man in his 30s, who had suffered a laceration to his head. 

‘He was taken to Lister Hospital in Stevenage for treatment.

‘It appears that the victim was struck by a glass bottle containing a lit rag and sustained a cut to his head.

The incident came amid a growing drive for the St George and Union flags to be displayed across England in the face of opposition from the authorities 

The furore began when Birmingham City Council announced it would take down hundreds of flags put up on lamp posts in recent weeks by a group who described themselves as ‘proud English men’, but who would not reveal their identities

‘I know that this incident will concern people living locally, but I would like to reassure the community that this was a contained incident.

‘Our investigation continues, and anyone with information is asked to get in touch with police.’

Anyone with information is asked to contact Hertfordshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The incident came amid a growing drive for the St George and Union flags to be displayed across England in the face of opposition from the authorities. 

It began when Birmingham City Council announced it would take down hundreds of flags put up on lamp posts in recent weeks by a group who described themselves as ‘proud English men’, but who would not reveal their identities.

The Labour-run authority said it was updating the streetlights and warned that ‘unauthorised items’ could risk pedestrians’ and motorists’ lives, despite being 25 feet in the air.

It sparked a furious backlash as critics pointed out that Palestine flags had been allowed to fly in the city for months, while the Council had also lit up its library in the colours of Pakistan and India on successive days.

Birmingham City Council also privately admitted it needed the ‘support of the police’ to remove Palestine flags from lamp posts because of ‘issues that have cropped [up] when we first tried to take them down’.

Birmingham City Council sparked a furious backlash as critics pointed out that Palestine flags had been allowed to fly in the city for months, while the Council had also lit up its library (pictured) in the colours of Pakistan and India on successive days

In Brighton, council workers have refused to remove England flags unless they have police protection. Councillor Bridget Fishleigh, for Rottingdean and West Saltdean, said that the council’s ‘steady progress with the removal’ had been paused after reports of abuse

Pictured: Workers for Tower Hamlets Council in east London seen taking down St George flags

The removal sparked fury amid locals given the authority had previously refused to take down unauthorised Palestinian flags ‘because we believe it could destabilise community cohesion’. (Pictured: Palestinian flags seen in Tower Hamlets last year)

Pictured: an activist confronts officials who were removing flags in Tower Hamlets  

Then workers for Tower Hamlets Council in east London were this week seen taking down St George flags put up by the burgeoning online movement known as ‘Operation Raise The Colours’.

Yet the authority had previously refused to take down unauthorised Palestinian flags ‘because we believe it could destabilise community cohesion’.

Town halls across the country have since condemned the painting of St George’s Crosses on mini-roundabouts while West Mercia Police said it was investigating incidents in Bromsgrove as suspected criminal damage.

Mrs Badenoch’s former Tory leadership rival, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, climbed a ladder to attach three Union flags to lamp posts in his Newark constituency on Wednesday – but Labour council leader Paul Peacock said he would have needed ‘appropriate planning permissions’.

Some creative residents have even taken to painting the St George’s cross on to potholes in the hope that their council will fill them.

Campaigner Ben Thornbury painted the symbol on a crater in his hometown of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, but the local authority warned that it was vandalism and would ‘not bring the repair forward’.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman insisted this week that Sir Keir was ‘absolutely’ supportive of people putting up English flags but other politicians have expressed concerns about the campaign, and anti-racist groups have claimed it is being driven by the far Right.

Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said people painting the red cross on roundabouts were ‘seeking confrontation’, while the Liberal Democrat leader of Dorset Council said some residents had been ‘intimidated’ by the flags.

Writing in today’s Daily Mail, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says town halls taking down English flags are fuelling racial division

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick was pictured climbing a ladder to attach three Union flags to lamp posts in his Newark constituency on Wednesday 

The clashes over flags have emerged at the same time as protests have grown over migrants being housed in hotels, with police braced for trouble over the Bank Holiday weekend as dozens more demonstrations are scheduled in towns across the UK.

But writing in today’s Daily Mail, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says town halls taking down English flags are fuelling racial division.

After a week that has seen the flag of St George removed from lamp posts, the Tory leader took aim at councils clashing with residents.

She says there is ‘nothing racist about flying the flag of your nation’ and ‘nothing extreme’ about feeling pride for the country.

And she warns that Labour councils trying to stop the campaign of patriotic flag-flying across the country are wrongly sending a message to ethnic minorities that the flag is not for them.

Mrs Badenoch attacked the local authorities for their ‘double standards’ after they allowed Palestinian banners to be displayed, as well as marking other countries’ independence days and lighting up buildings for Black Lives Matter.

And she blasted Keir Starmer for using the English flag as a ‘football prop’, claiming other Labour MPs are only posing with it because Downing Street has told them to.

In her exclusive article, Mrs Badenoch writes: ‘The flag of St George predates the Union flag. It is a symbol that has stood for centuries.

‘It should not be controversial to say that we are proud of it. The denigration of anything British in the name of “diversity” is not progressive. It is divisive. It must stop. 

‘It shouldn’t be a revolutionary act to fly our own flags in our own country.’