Re: Flag desecration?


Warning to protesters from Welsh flagmaker

Feb 10 2006

Robin Turner, Western Mail

A WELSH flagmaker last night issued an urgent safety warning to Muslims
who are buying up his Danish flags to torch in cartoon protests.
Orders for the Danish national red and white flag began flooding in to
Swansea-based business Mr Flag as soon as the Prophet Muhammad
caricatures featured in a Danish newspaper were reprinted in Europe.
"We have experienced a rise in orders for the Danish colours," owner
Robin Ashburner confirmed.
But he warned, "It has to be pointed out though that a number of modern
flags are now made largely of polyester and when they burn they melt.
That means if they are whirled around by a protester, his or her fellow
protesters could be splashed by flying pieces of burning material. If it
got into the eye it could do serious damage so we are about to issue a
warning to this effect on our website."
A wave of anger has swept across the Muslim world at the
multi-publication of the controversial cartoons. Danish and other
European flags have been burnt as far afield as Paris, London,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank in
protest.


In Gaza City where Danish and Norwegian flags are usually unseen,
shopkeepers have been putting in big orders to flagmakers. The
Scandinavian flags are now more popular there and in cities like Beirut
and Damascus, where foreign embassies have been burned, than the Star of
David standard, often a flag burning target for anti-Israeli
demonstrators.

Mr Flag, one of the UK's few flagmakers, has cultivated a global market
through its internet site and Mr Ashburner says there is often a "blip"
in sales after world events.

He said, "I had a call just this week from an American guy who was very
fed up with seeing the American flag being burned on news TV. He wanted
to do his own protest and asked me to supply him with the official Hamas
colours so he could be the first American to be shown on CNN burning a
Hamas flag. I had to turn down his request because at the moment Hamas
is still a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK.

"But as modern flagmakers with an internet site we get feedback almost
straight way after something happens. For instance, after last Sunday's
surprise rugby win by the Scots over the French we had a rise in orders
for the Scottish Saltaire. I am sure it stirred up patriotic fervour to
see such a great win and I am sure we will be seeing a lot of our
Scottish flags in Cardiff and other parts of Wales over the next few
days.

"When it comes to flag burning - and this is a personal not a
professional view - it does not over-concern me. It's an expression of
opinion and if I see the British flag being burnt it does not threaten
me. It just shows some other people have different views. It is better
to take it out on a flag than to indulge in violence.

"A lot of flag burners make their own out of strips of cloth but there
is a trend among shop owners in certain parts of the world to order in
large amounts to sell to protesters. We have had as many orders from
Europe as we have from places like the Middle East so this is very much
a global phenomenon."



Lots more flag stories at http://www.mrflag.com/index.php?doc=65&rev=65
.

Relevant Pages