British man wearing Crusader gear attacked after taking down Palestinian flag in London neighborhood
A viral video shows a British man using a ladder in an effort to take down a Palestinian flag flying in the heart of London before being attacked by an apparent Palestinian sympathizer.
The video shared Dec. 8 on social media shows a man wearing a Crusader-themed red cross skull cap and hoodie propping up a ladder at a bus stop in the Muslim-majoriy neighborhood of Tower Hamlets in east London to remove the flag when the attack takes place.
After the unidentified man climbs atop an apparent trash bin, he is seen making his way slowly up a ladder leaning against the flagpole. As he climbs higher toward the flag, a small black car stops in the middle of the street.
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The man then rips the flag off the pole and as he makes his way down the ladder, the passenger in the black vehicle runs out and kicks the ladder out from under him.
After tumbling to the ground, the cross-wearing man takes the ladder and throws it at the passenger. He then runs off toward another ladder near the flagpole, giving the car passenger a chance to pick up the first ladder.
A guy took down a Palestine flag In Langdon Park Tower Hamlets. pic.twitter.com/1fXkUnPzC2
— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) December 8, 2023
The two men are then seen swinging ladders in each other’s direction in the middle of the street, where the two eventually come to blows. A third man arrives and immediately takes the ladder from the cross-wearing man, who then runs out of frame.
He later reported the assault to police. Officers are still investigating and no arrests have been made, a spokesperson for the Metro London U.K. Police told the Daily Mail.
The incident was caught on video one day before a massive pro-Palestinian rally in London drew thousands calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war continues into its third month.
Last month, authorities arrested another British man who took to social media to criticize the number of Palestinian flags that were being mounted in one local neighborhood.
Police in Tower Hamlets raised concerns about the number of Palestinian flags on display back in October and decided to remove them from lampposts, citing safety concerns, the BBC reported.
One local lawmaker who asked not to be identified told the BBC, "One flag outside someone's home as an individual statement is one thing. But on nearly every lamppost is different.
"If I was from certain communities I might not feel safe. It may not be breaking the law but local councils have a duty to deal with this and try to keep all people together."
A 2011 government census found that 38% of the population in Tower Hamlets identify as Muslim, the highest percentage of Muslim residents in England and Wales. According to the census, Tower Hamlets is the only local authority in the U.K. where Muslims, not Christians, are the largest single religious group.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, a number of cities around the world have flown the Palestinian flag, including in Ireland, where the flag has gone up at government buildings in Dublin, and in California, where the city of Fresno raised the Palestinian flag in solidarity shortly after the war began.
The official flag of England, meanwhile, is called St. George’s Cross, a flag dating back to the 12th century featuring a red horizontal cross against a white background.
The flag was used to identify both soldiers and civilians during the Crusades, the series of wars launched by the Roman Catholic Church to regain control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post and the author of BACKWARDS DAD: a children's book for grownups. He can be reached at: [email protected].
