The leader of the Raise the Colours campaign group, Ryan Bridge, has been arrested on suspicion of causing religious and racially aggravated harassment over putting up St George and Union flags in Oxford. The Telegraph has the story.

Ryan Bridge, a co-founder of Raise the Colours, was detained by Thames Valley Police for allegedly causing alarm or distress to members of the public in Oxford on Tuesday.

In recent days, the campaign group posted footage of its members erecting Union and Saint George flags across the city.

In a video posted on Facebook after his release, Bridge said: “I’ve just been let out – 18-and-a-half hours for a public order Section 5 causing people alarm and distress. The world’s gone mad.

“Me putting the flag up in my country is causing alarm and distress to certain members of the public. It’s an absolute disgrace and I’ve had enough, as we all have, we’ve got to march on, we’ve got to fight on. We’ve got a fight on our hands.”

Bridge, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, said that his bail conditions meant he was banned from the wider Oxfordshire area.

A police spokesman said an investigation was launched following reports of potential public order offences in Abingdon Road, Oxford.

On Monday, Oxfordshire county council issued a legal notice banning the group from putting up flags, arguing it was an “act of intimidation and division”.

The group has been told that it could face civil and criminal proceedings if it fails to comply with the legal notice.

Operation Raise the Colours is an online campaign that involves displaying the Union Flag and St George’s Cross in public places.

Critics of the campaign have associated it with far-Right activism, with many local authorities removing the flags whenever they appear.

Read More: Flag-Raising Activist Arrested for “Causing Alarm and Distress”