The Press went to Foss Islands Road at around 4.30pm on Monday (September 15) and around half-a-dozen flags on the river Foss side had been taken down.
A transit van with a cherry picker unit attached was see in Foss Islands Road at around 9.15am on the same day, where a combination of around 30 Union flags and crosses of St George were flying on posts from Walmgate Bar to Layerthorpe.
A spokesperson for City of York Council said: “We’ve agreed that we’ll be removing any flags illegally fixed to lampposts starting this week.
“We’re not going to be publicising when and where, but this will be done as quickly, efficiently and at as low a cost as possible.
“As it’s illegal, we reiterate previous requests for people to hang flags in their homes and from flagpoles instead of from public property.”
Flag Force UK - which organised fundraisers in York to put up flags in the city - featured posts on social media earlier this month of its supporters replacing flags it said had been removed.
On September 12, the group posted on its X account, “we remind the council that when flags are taken down, they will be replaced promptly".
As reported by The Press last week, council chiefs said the flags were being taken down as people in the city felt threatened and York had seen “totally unacceptable racist attacks” and graffiti in the last month.
Council leader Claire Douglas said last Thursday that the flags were a symbol of patriotism for many people, but alongside this patriotism should be an awareness that this "stirs memories for some members of our communities of their experience of racism and persecution" .
Recommended reading:
- 'People feel threatened - this cannot go on': Flags to be removed from York
- MP demands flags be removed from York as clean up set to cost £250,000
- English flag painted on roundabout and crossing in Tang Hall
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