Masked Operatives Filmed Removing Union Flags at Night in York

Masked men have been filmed removing Union Jack and St George’s Cross flags at night from lampposts across York, shining torches into the eyes of residents who challenged them

A phenomenon of St George and Union Jack flags appearing in towns and cities across the country has taken hold in recent weeks, part of a wider grassroots display of English patriotism

Videos circulating on X show unidentified individuals cutting down flags in the dead of night. In one clip, a resident appears to be flashed in the eyes with a torch.

“What public authority do you have to be walking around in masks and behiving like this?” asks the person taking the video.

The masked man then tells him to “go back in his car and go.”

The masked men do not identify themselves.

The account Flag Force UK, which says it is documenting the “phenomenon of flagging across Britain,” claimed the men were hired contractors, though the council has not confirmed their identity.

“Serious allegations have been made about York Council hiring masked individuals to pull down national flags. The video evidence suggests something unusual is happening,” said Guy Dampier, Senior Researcher on Nationhood at the Prosperity Institute on X.

Comedian Leo Kearse asked on X: “Have we been occupied by a hostile force? The government appears to be paying unofficial street militia to remove British flags and intimidate residents.”

The Labour-controlled City of York Council has previously told local press that “several hundred” flags have been taken down, saying the removals are necessary due to upcoming “high-profile events.”

The operation is estimated by critics to cost up to £250,000 of taxpayers’ money.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell said she has been contacted by “hundreds of residents” distressed by both the sudden proliferation of flags.

Not the best sign when a town is hiring unidentified masked men in masks to operate in the dead of night, is it…