Councillor calls for end to St George’s flags and graffiti after Gateshead residents admit they feel unsafe
A Gateshead councillor has called for an end to graffiti involving St George’s flag after residents said they were feeling unsafe. It follows anger over anti-Muslim graffiti daubed in Birtley this weekend.
The incident saw red flags painted on white doors and even a car, while an Islamophobic slogan was painted on a garden fence. It follows weeks of similar incidents across the country as part of a national campaign thought to be organised by far right activists.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting of the council’s housing, environment and healthy communities scrutiny committee, Coun Dawn Welsh quizzed council officers on the approach to tackling the issue.
She said: “Gateshead is a very diverse community and we are very proud of that. We don’t want to feel intimidated.
“Are we doing anything to watch out for this sort of thing? We have to acknowledge that people are mistaking nationalism for patriotism.
“Overt nationalism is designed to be offensive and aggressive, and to split communities. We have reached a point where the flag situation has gone too far – following the graffiti people now find the flags offensive.
“Do we have a plan for what we’re going to do about all these flags? People are ranting about the proliferation of flags who are deeply unhappy.
“I find they are the majority, rather than the minority putting them up.”
Coun Welsh also raised a concern about the cost of clearing the graffiti to council taxpayers.
She added: “Could I suggest that as we go around fixing this, we keep track of the cost to the council? It is costing council taxpayers money.
“It’s aggressive and it is making people unsafe, and that is not acceptable. We all know what is behind it and it is not acceptable – we have to make a stand.”
Coun Sheila Gallagher said she had also received contact from residents on the issue.
She said: “I have been contacted about the flags. I have had someone say to me they feel unsafe.
“This person isn’t a person of colour, but that doesn’t stop them feeling unsafe. What happened in Birtley was an awful incident.”
Council officers said graffiti that was racist or offensive would be taken down by staff as soon as possible. The incident in Birtley was described as “horrendous graffiti that needed to be removed straight away”.
The incidents are understood to have taken place overnight, with residents in the Dorset Avenue and York Road areas waking on Sunday to discover the vandalism. Local people are reported to have rallied to support those affected and help to scrub off the offensive graffiti.
Following the incident, Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon said the graffiti was “racist” and “completely unacceptable”.
He added: “I have a message for the perpetrators – if you think there’s anything patriotic in daubing messages of hate under the cover of our national flag then you couldn’t be more wrong. There’s nothing British, nothing English, and nothing Gateshead about what you’ve done.
“You’re debasing our flag and debasing our borough. For flags that have been hung on lampposts we will remove any that are causing an obstruction or which are dangerous.
“If there are others that aren’t causing an immediate problem, we will take them down when they get tatty as a ragged flag hanging from a lamppost shows no respect for our flag or our country.
“Our flag is a symbol of what makes England great. We are at our best when we come together as a united, inclusive and diverse nation.”