Locals in uproar as 35,000 people sign petition against display of Nazi flag at Leek market stall

Local residents in Leek, Staffordshire, have united in condemnation of a market stall in the town which has been displaying the Nazi flag. More than 35,000 people have already signed a petition calling for the flag to be removed from sale if it is a recently-manufactured replica, or removed from display if it is a genuine ‘antique’. According to the petition, the town’s mayor has known about the flag for a “long time” but has taken no action.

Whilst there are of course legitimate reasons to sell and purchase Nazi artefacts, for example for academic purposes, there are many cases in which the collection of Nazi ‘memorabilia’ is related to neo-Nazi beliefs. For example the murderer who killed Jo Cox MP had a collection of Nazi artefacts and a neo-Nazi teenager convicted of building a bomb to spark a “race war” was found to have a Nazi flag hanging in his bedroom.