Men in court after flaggers target Thetford police station

Two men are scheduled to stand trial on charges of assaulting cops who attempted to stop a group from flying Union Jacks from a Norfolk police station.

Barry Scott, 42, and Michael Kelly, 71, are both facing charges following a confrontation outside Thetford Police Station in the early hours of the morning. The Norwich Magistrates’ Court was informed that an attempt had been made to attach flags to the structure.

Phone footage shared on social media shows a number of police officers scuffling on the ground with a man in the early hours of September 1, during the height of a grassroots national campaign by citizens to attach thousands of St George Crosses and Union Jacks to lampposts and street furniture.

The footage also shows a ladder beside the police station with a flag pole attached to it.Still from video footage of incident outside Thetford Police Station (Image: YouTube)

Video footage of incident outside Thetford Police Station (Image: YouTube)

Scott, of St Michaels Close in Thetford, has pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting PCs, using threatening and abusive language, and causing criminal damage in connection with the incident. It happened the same night that dozens of patriotic flags were left flying high from lampposts along Norwich Road and London Road in the town.

Kelly, of Elm Road in Thetford, denied assaulting police and obstructing/resisting officers in the course of their duty.

He informed the court that he did not dispute being at a police station, but that he had been documenting the incident. “I was not taking part, I went to document it,” he clarified.

Flags placed on lampposts in Thetford (Image: YouTube)

Thetford Police Station has a flagpole on its roof (Image: Google)

He stated that he was detained a week after the incident while attending a meeting of the Safer Thetford Action Group, a multi-agency forum hosted by the police, council, and others.

He went on, “It’s all over a flag – our flag.” Both men will be tried at Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ Court on June 8 and 15, next year.

Lampposts throughout the area, including Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Diss, and King’s Lynn, have been decorated in response to the contentious flag flying phenomenon.

The banners have sparked debate, with some hailing them as national emblems, while others claim they are being flown provocatively and forcefully.

There have been conflicts between groups putting them up and those attempting to take them down.

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