Patriots were left feeling CROSS when council workmen went round ripping down St George's flags hoisted on lamp-posts to celebrate the day of England's patron saint.
Liverpool City Council ordered the flags be removed as no permission was applied for, and under health and safety grounds they could cause harm to pedestrians and motorists.
Ironically, St George is not only the patron saint of England but also the official patron saint of the City of Liverpool.
But angry residents from the Walton area of Merseyside blasted the decision to take down the St George's cross flags is un-patriotic.
The move by town hall bureaucrats sparked outrage from residents after cherry-picker crews removed dozens of flags proudly fluttering on County Road and Walton Road.
Local resident and shop worker Greg McMee branded the council hypocrites for removing the flags as St Patrick's day flags are erected every year.
Mr McMee said: "We came into work this morning and the street looked great with flags hung on all the lamp posts.
"I didn't even know it was St George's day until I saw the flags.
"It's absolutely disgusting what the council has done. It's downright unpatriotic.
"Every other nationality is allowed to celebrate their own holiday but for some reason the English are not. It's sickening.
"The workmen were saying the council told them to remove the flags due to health and safety but the same lamp-posts are decorated every year with Paddy's Day flags.
"If the council had a problem with the flags they should have sent someone round to make them safe, not take them down."
Ex serviceman Patrick Dixon, 69 said: "I was incensed when I saw what the workmen were doing and went straight over to ask why they were ripping the flags down.
"There was a council worker, two workmen on a cherry-picker and two policeman keeping standing guard.
"I demanded to know why they were taking down the flags to which I was told, 'no permission was granted for the flags to be put up and they broke health and safety rules.'
"There are lads fighting and dying for this flag and some unpatriotic idiot sat behind a desk wants it ripping down. They should be sacked.
"The public pay the councils wages and they should be providing what we want not the other way round.
"What harm were the flags doing?
"We live in England, which is the greatest country in the world and we should embrace our flag not hide it.
"St George's day should be made a holiday and flags should be hoisted high but the people in power are afraid of being un-PC and it's wrong."
Jeff Kelly, who runs Kelly's newsagents in Huyton saw the flags being torn down and said the council workers 'looked ashamed of themselves.'
Jeff, 47, said: "It was a very sad scene.
"There was a council van with a cherry picker and they were being escorted by an unmarked police van.
"Apparently they were taking them down due to health and safety issues. It took them about half an hour.
"People were just looking on in disgust and they did look a bit ashamed of themselves.
"They could have just left them up until tomorrow, it just shows how reactionary they are.
"It was very disheartening, people want to commemorate their national day and why shouldn't we?
"Every year they put Irish flags up on the same posts. Imagine the outcry if they came round and removed them on Paddy's Day."
Construction worker and Orange Lodge leader Steve Bell, 55, added: "We put the flags up because we're organising a St George's Day parade.
"This was a petty decision made by someone in an office somewhere who isn't in touch what people really believe in.
"They tore them down because of Health and Safety issues - what are they afraid of?
"People just want to celebrate their nationality."
Liverpool town hall officials defended the decision to remove the flags and pointed-out that St George's flags were being flown on lamp-posts in the city's West Derby Road official blessing.
Liverpool City Council Assistant Director for Regeneration, Mike Burchnall said: "The problem we get occasionally is when we get unauthorised structures put up on lamp-posts.
"Those can cause problems and in the past we have had bits of flags or bits of material that fall off lamp-posts onto cars, producing a safety issue.
"If people want to put flags on lamp-posts we told to them and get them designed properly and put up with proper fixings.
"Unfortunately in this case that did not happen and an instruction was issued to have the flags removed.
"Whether it was St George's Day, or not, is irrelevant.
"We are not killjoys. The city is celebrating St. George's Day with flags flying on council buildings and civic buildings.
"It was a question of safety and whether the fixings are adequate with the proper D-rings. We could have been held liable if were were aware of it and did nothing.
"We will look at these flags and see if they can be made fit for purpose. If they can go back up, they will go back up."
James Cooney of the St George's Day Appreciation Society said: "To suggest that flying St George's flags can pose a threat to safety is ludicrous.
"People across the world honour St George and the impact England has had on the world without any problem.
"It just seems that certain people in this country have a paranoid complex about it.
"St George is also the patron saint of Liverpool so tearing these flags down is pathetic and disgraceful."
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