The mayor of Tower Hamlets has bowed to pressure and ordered the removal of Palestinian flags from council buildings and lampposts.

Lutfur Rahman insisted that the flags were “symbols of solidarity and sympathy” for Palestinians in Gaza but that the borough was taking them down after being advised to do so.

The Telegraph has highlighted the upset caused to Jewish residents by the council’s previous refusal to remove the flags.

Other boroughs have taken down Palestinian flags hung from posts and street signs and council-owned property but Tower Hamlets had allowed them to flourish, many of them – as reported by The Telegraph – close to schools.

The Government has ordered an inspection amid fears over how it is being run by Mr Rahman, who had previously been barred from public office for five years for corruption.

Having served his ban, Mr Rahman, who is an independent, was voted back into the post in the local elections in May 2022.

Tower Hamlets’ about-turn comes three days after a group of lawyers sent the borough a legal letter threatening to bring a private prosecution.

UK Lawyers for Israel had complained that the flags were intimidating Jewish residents and that the council was committing a criminal offence by refusing to take them down.

Jonathan Turner, the group’s chief executive, said in the letter: “Many Jewish and other people who live and/or work in the borough have expressed their distress to us.

“A number of them are so distressed that they are looking to move out of the borough.”

In a statement on social media, Mr Rahman blamed his decision for the removal of the flags on adverse publicity in the media. He claimed a rise in Islamophobia had made Tower Hamlets, which has the highest population of Muslims in the country, “a target”.

Mr Rahman said: “Sadly, it is clear the Palestinian flags flying in the borough have been the focus of these media attacks.

“I understand that those who have erected these flags across the borough have done so in line with our strong tradition of solidarity, and I reject that they are symbols of division.”

‘Islamophobic narrative’

But he went on: “However, as mayor, I sometimes need to make difficult decisions, and it is time to make one now. Following advice from the chief executive, the council will begin to remove the Palestinian flags from council-owned infrastructure.

“Although these flags are an understandable expression of solidarity, I now feel they are being used to unfairly attack the people of the borough and further the Islamophobic narrative.”

He said the situation had become a “distraction” for the council and pleaded for understanding for the decision he had taken.