East London Pride flags vandalised for ‘at least the fifth time’

Three Pride flags in East London have been vandalised with paint in a further blow to the local queer community.

A Pride progress flag, the classic rainbow flag and trans flag, located on Woodgrange Road near Forest Gate train station, had the word “no” with a large black X painted over them.

Dr Andrew Diver, from local group Forest Gayte Pride, said this is “at least the fifth time” the flags have been defaced with anti-LGBTQ+ abuse, and described the situation as “escalating”.

He told PinkNews the criminal damage had been carried out “by at least six o’clock this morning” (19 July), with the police coming out “immediately” to collect CCTV footage from around the station.

Diver believes the police are “going to step up their actions” and the incident is “definitely been taken much more seriously than the other ones”, given how often this has now happened.

Despite the upset at the latest defacement of the flags, Diver was full of praise for the local community, especially shopkeepers on Woodgrange Road who are “super supportive” and “actively welcoming” of the queer community.

However, people still took to social media to express their frustration.

Labour MP Uma Kumaran, who was elected on 4 July with for Stratford and Bow with an 11,634 majority, wrote: “I’m sorry to share these images. Sadly, once again, the flags in Forest Gate have been defaced. I will do everything in my power to tackle LGBT+ hate crime. I know the fear and hurt this causes. I’ll work with Newham Council, local police & the Minister for equalities on this.”

“LBGTQ rights are under attack and homophobia in our communities is growing more brazen: some bigots have again vandalised the pavement Pride flag by Forest Gate station,” one local wrote on X/Twitter.

Another said: “Progress flag outside Forest Gate station was only repainted last week after being vandalised less than a month ago and here we are again. From memory it’s sat there undisturbed for years but transphobes have helped make homophobia fashionable again.”

History of anti-LGBTQ+ vandalism

Last month, police were called to the area after the Pride progress flag was covered in red paint. Just two days later, the other Pride flags were vandalised.

Prior to this, the trans and rainbow flags had the words “say no” written over them with spray paint and a Pride progress flag was covered in an elaborate message urging LGBTQ+ people to “drink toilet water”.

At the time, Forest Gayte Pride founder and co-director Carron Harrison said the organisation was appalled by the spate of criminal damage. “We’re still fighting for equality and experiencing homophobia, as evidenced by the continuing vandalism of our flags,” she told PinkNews.

“It just highlights how much we need Pride. People say: ‘Why are you still celebrating? Why do you still need Pride?’

“But the message we want to give is they can paint over our flags, they can intimidate us, but they can’t paint over our pride.”

Following the incident in June, the police launched an investigation into the incident as a suspected homophobic hate crime, with detective inspector James Rush saying they recognised such incidents caused “considerable concern and upset in the area and among the local LGBTQ+ community, especially as it has happened during Pride month and only days before London Pride”.

He added: “We share that concern and upset and understand how intimidating this sort of offence can be, which is why we remain committed to rooting out hate crime offenders and preventing further incidents. I would like to reassure the community that we are taking these offences very seriously and are carrying out a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice. This type of offending will not be tolerated.

“We are also aware of previous allegations of homophobic criminal damage at the same location, including in early March, and as part of our investigation we will be exploring whether this incident is linked.”

Two days later, on 28 June, the police released a CCTV image of a person spraying paint on to the flags.

“While the person’s face is covered, we hope that someone who lives or works in the area may recognise the individual from their distinctive clothing,” Rush said.

“If you think you recognise the person, maybe they are a customer at your shop, or live nearby, I would urge you to contact my team.”

No arrests have been made and anyone with information can contact police by calling 101 or visiting met.police.uk quoting reference 2433/23Jun.

Alternatively, you can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.