A British patriot has been arrested after putting up national flags, in a case supporters say shows just how far things have gone.
Ryan Bridge, co-founder of the Raise the Colours campaign, was detained by Thames Valley Police in Oxford on suspicion of racially and religiously aggravated harassment.
Police said the arrest followed reports of public order incidents on Abingdon Road, where activists had been placing Union Flags and St George’s Crosses on lampposts.
The 44-year-old, from Bromsgrove, was later released on bail, with conditions reportedly banning him from much of Oxfordshire.
For many supporters, however, the case raises a far more fundamental question, how can displaying national symbols in your own country be treated as a criminal matter?
“The world’s gone mad”
Speaking after his release, Mr Bridge made clear he believes the situation has spiralled beyond reason.
In a video posted online, he said: “I’ve just been let out – 18-and-a-half hours for a public order, Section 5 causing people alarm and distress. The world’s gone mad.
“Me putting the flag up in my country is causing alarm and distress to certain members of the public. It’s an absolute disgrace and I’ve had enough, as we all have, we’ve got to march on, we’ve got to fight on. We’ve got a fight on our hands.”
Footage shared online shows Mr Bridge being detained while asking officers what he had “done wrong,” insisting: “No-one’s resisting.”
A patriotic movement
Raise the Colours is part of a growing grassroots campaign that began in 2025, encouraging people to display the Union Jack and national flags across the UK as a show of pride and unity.
Supporters describe themselves simply as patriots, ordinary people trying to reclaim visible expressions of national identity.
Mr Bridge himself has said the movement is about pride, not division, and has previously insisted it has “nothing to do with the pigment in anyone’s skin.”
Thousands of flags have appeared across towns and cities since last summer, often put up voluntarily by local supporters.
One spokesperson for the campaign told the Conservative Post: “We know that there is an orchestrated attempt from a few shadowy groups on the left to bombard councils with fake complaints when in fact 99 percent of people love what we are doing. We are up against it but we will not stop. We love our country. We will keep going.”
Council crackdown
Despite that, some councils like Oxfordshire County Council, have taken a hard line.
The authority issued a legal notice banning the group from continuing to put up flags, and warned it could pursue civil or criminal action if the activity continues.
Council leader Liz Leffman said more than 200 complaints had been made, with some residents reportedly feeling “distressed, unwelcome and unsafe in their own neighbourhoods.”
She said: “However, the widespread installation of flags by Raise the Colours is not a sign of patriotism. It is an act of intimidation and division that is having a real and damaging impact on our communities.”
At the same time, the council acknowledged: “We proudly fly the Union Jack and St George’s flags, which are visible symbols of democracy and unity.”
Earlier figures showed councils have spent tens of thousands of pounds removing the flags, including more than £15,000 in Oxfordshire alone, at a cost of around £45 per flag.
Clashes on the ground
Tensions on the streets have mirrored the wider debate.
During the Oxford operation, Mr Bridge said activists were “attacked verbally and physically,” and repeatedly abused, being called “racists” and “fascists” by members of the public.
Reports also confirm confrontations between activists and residents during flag placements, with police launching an investigation into incidents linked to the operation.
More than just flags
Critics have attempted to portray the movement in a negative light, and some local opposition has been vocal. But for supporters, the core issue remains simple.
A campaign that began as a display of national pride has led to arrests, legal threats, and growing hostility, all centred around the act of putting up British flags.
For those backing Mr Bridge and his fellow patriots, the question is no longer just about flags.
It is about whether expressions of identity and patriotism are being treated as something suspicious, or even criminal, in modern Britain.
And as Mr Bridge put it: “We’ve got a fight on our hands.”
