An estimated 110,000-150,000 people marched at a "Unite the Kingdom" protest against immigration in London on September 13, according to official figures from the city's Metropolitan Police.

The event was organized by British far-right agitator and convicted felon Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the pseudonym "Tommy Robinson," and claimed erroneously that up to "three million" people had attended "the biggest protest in British history."

In fact, recent UK protests against Israel's war in Gaza (approximately 300,000), Brexit (several marches generally estimated at "hundreds of thousands") and the Iraq War (up to one million), among others, all attracted significantly larger crowds.

Saturday's undoubtedly large event came at a time when immigration is a top political issue in the United Kingdom and amid a heated debate about the use of the British and English flags as symbols.

Large numbers of them have recently appeared in public spaces across the UK. While their advocates claim the flags simply express national and patriotic pride, others point out that their pairing with racist violence and abuse implies the symbols stand for more than just that.

DW Fact check takes a look at several narratives that are doing the rounds:

The 'Raise the Colours' flag campaign

The flag campaign has become known as 'Raise the Colours' and has seen both the English St. George's Cross (a red cross on a white background) and the British Union Jack (the official flag of the United Kingdom) appear in public locations, either as flags and banners tied to lamposts and bridges or as painted motifs on other surfaces.

The flags, particularly the cross of St. George, are most commonly seen during football tournaments and other sporting events — most recently when England won the Women's European Championship in July this year, for example. But this year, the flags have lingered and even multiplied over the course of August.

According to a BBC report, the flag campaign's start coincided with the news that a Birmingham school had prohibited a 12-year-old girl from giving a presentation about British identity while wearing a Union Jack dress. As news spread that the city council was taking down flags, some claimed it was to suppress national pride, and people organized to distribute flags. Birmingham City Council, however, stated removals were due to maintenance and safety.

The issue has sparked a heated debate in the UK about national identity and pride and how the flags relate to them, which partly takes place on social media.

Narrative #1: The government is suppressing patriotism

Claims that flags were taken down to deny national pride continued to spread over the course of August.

This post on X with over 3 million views, claimed police were taking down Union Jacks. It was also posted by Radio Europe, an account spreading anti-immigration and flag-content. Local police, however, revealed that the photograph shows officers installing a CCTV camera.

This clearly AI-generated TikTok videoespouses the idea that flags are taken down because "the immigrants are uncomfortable" with them. It reproduces common right-wing talking points regarding the state being 'woke,' overly influenced by ideas of social justice and prioritizing immigrants.

In this post on X, we see a group of demonstrators, guided by police, waving Union Jack and St George's flags. The post claims: "British citizens proudly raise their flag in protest of the illegitimate government's attempt to suppress patriotism. Raise the colours!"

The march in Manchester, which was organized by the extreme-right Britain First party and which saw participants marching behind a banner reading "remigration," a far-right concept which proposes the deportation of non-white immigrants and even citizens, was clearly not "suppressed." On the contrary, the video clearly shows that it was permitted, facilitated, and secured by the police.

The current British government was elected in July 2024, when the Labour Party won 33.7% of the vote and emerged as the largest party in parliament. The UK ranks 17th out of 167 in the Economist's Democracy Index and is considered a "full democracy." 

Narrative #2: Other flags 'taking over'

Posts on social media claiming British and English flags are being suppressed have also included claims that they are being replaced by other countries' flags.

"Radio Genoa," a notorious X account which is well-known for spreading misleading content to fuel far-right narratives, posted a video of the hoisting of a Pakistani flag, claiming that they were being raised in "every city in [the] UK" and that this was proof of an "Islamic invasion."

A DW Fact check geolocated the video to a street opposite the Pakistani consulate in Glasgow, Scotland. The original post itself stated correctly that the video showed a flag-raising ceremony celebrating Pakistan's Independence Day on August 14.

Beneath the post, X's own artificial intelligence bot Grok also debunked the claim that foreign flags were raised in "every city."

Another far-right X account posted a video of a similar ceremony in Birmingham, asking: "What has this got to do with Birmingham or Britain?"

The answer: the territory of modern-day Pakistan formed part of the British Indian Empire from 1893 until 1947, after which many Pakistanis displaced by the deadly partition of India and Pakistan made use of their right as Commonwealth citizens to migrate to the United Kingdom. According to the 2021 census, there are 1.66 million British Pakistanis in the UK, 320,000 of whom live in the West Midlands, in which Birmingham is the largest city.

Anti-immigrant protests and anti-Muslim hate crimes 

The UK's colonial history has produced a diverse modern population, including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Caribbean communities. The 2021 census shows that, at least in England and Wales, the population at that time included more people from different ethnic backgrounds compared to previous years. 

In 2024 far-right anti-immigrant riots broke out in the northwestern town of Southport after misinformation spread about the identity of a man who murdered three girls in a knife rampage at a children's dance class, falsely labelling him an asylum seeker and Islamist extremist. In fact, Axel Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Christian parents who had emigrated from Rwanda in 2002.

The NGO 'Tell MAMA' reported a record number of anti-Muslim hate incidents in 2024, with a 165% rise since 2022. After October 7, 2023, online hate surged greatly, with X as the most toxic platform.

Louis O'Geran of the British non-profit public opinion research organization 'More in Common' notes two major shifts in public opinion in the UK in recent years: a growing consensus that net migration should fall and heightened concerns over illegal crossings of the English Channel, which hit a record number this summer. Public opposition to hotel accommodations for asylum seekers has doubled since 2023.

O'Geran states that, "while people sympathize with protesters who are putting up flags and painting them on the street, there is a lot of scepticism about their motives and a strong perception that it's being ruined by racism within the movement."

One such example is the South Essex Islamic Trust building in Basildon, which was vandalized with a St. George's Cross and the words "This is England" and "Christ is King." Labour leader Gavin Callaghan responded on social media: "To do this right before Friday prayers is no coincidence. That's targeted. That's intimidation. And it's criminal."

Who determines what the flags mean and why they are flying them?

The UK-based organization 'Hope not Hate' found that the 'Raise the Colours' campaign is led by extreme far-right activists, though not all supporters identify with that ideology.

A recent study by 'More in Common' shows support for flag displays across political parties, though significantly more on the right: Labour (47%), Liberal Democrat (48%), Greens (38%), Reform (83%), Conservatives (72%).

Louis O'Geran states, "Most people like both flags. About three-quarters of English people say that the St George's flag is unifying rather than divisive." The point of contention is where it is appropriate to fly them, plus property damage.

Sunder Katwala, Director of the think tank 'British Future,' emphasizes the changing nature of the symbolism of the British flag. Linked to pop culture in the 1960s and 1990s, but also to far-right groups in the intervening decades, efforts have also been made for the symbols to have a broader and more inclusive meaning.

As it's difficult to know the precise intent of people who fly the flags, Katwala notes that there have been mixed responses in immigrant communities. He says some older and more established minorities report feeling threatened and sensing that "something is coming back that we thought had gone away."

On the other hand, ethnic minorities with Commonwealth backgrounds have pushed back, by reminding of their long-time involvement in British history, not least in their service in the British armed forces in both world wars in the 20th century. For example, around 1.5 million Indian troops served in the British Army in the First World War, 1914-18, while the British Indian Army in the Second World War, 1939-45, was around 2.5 million strong. 

Minority communities have also asserted their Britishness when challenged, Katwala emphasizes, with mosques flying flags and displaying portraits of British royalty.

Katwala cautions: "The performative aspect of flying flags is partly to create images and optics for media and social media." He warns that small protests can seem much larger online, distorting the image. "For example, we've had a very large number of asylum protests, maybe 300 events in 75 locations. Most of them have two dozen or three dozen people there. But on social media, you then get to say it's happening everywhere."

International support has also amplified the ‘Raise the Colours' campaign. Elon Musk posted the St. George's Cross on X and US Vice President JD Vance expressed his support.

Edited by: Ines Eisele, Rachel Baig