Masked men shouted “Allahu Akbar” and “f**k the UK” as they ripped down and burned a pub’s Union Flags, a court has heard.
Zaid Sami, 21, and Nour Sami, 20, both from Feltham, and 21-year-old Omar Sukkar from Isleworth, are accused of racially-aggravated criminal damage to the flags outside The Fox pub in Twickenham.
All three men deny the charge and are standing trial at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court.
Prosecutors have described the alleged attack at the pub as an “attack on the British people”, arguing that made it a racially-aggravated offense, the Mail reported.
The men allegedly tore down the flags outside the pub on October 23, 2023, two weeks after the October 7 attacks, when Hamas killed over 1,000 civilians in Israel.
Prosecutor Mark Mullins told the court: “This case is about the ripping down and burning of two Union Flags, which the prosecution asserts is an attack on the British people and their way of life and is therefore racially aggravated.
“Just after 6pm in the evening, four young men ripped down two Union Jacks from The Fox public house and set fire to them.
“While they were burning the flags they were heard shouting: ‘Allahu Akbar’; ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Stop bombing children’.”
Three men allegedly tore down Union flags outside the Fox pub in an ‘attack on the British people’
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THE FOX PUB TWICKENHAM
Mr Mullins said CCTV evidence showed Mr Sukkar clambering up a noticeboard to remove a flag, while Zaid Sami removed another flag, damaging poles and fixings in the process.
Witnesses then noticed a “strong acrid smell” as the flags were burned, the prosecutor added.
Mr Mullins also suggested then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s speech was a motivating factor for the attack.
“Then UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave a speech on October 19 that Israel had a right to defend itself and on October 23 he made a similar speech to the House of Commons,” he told the court.
Pub landlord Paul Brace told the court the flags were a source of pride as part of the street.
He said: “I had two Union Jack flags on poles. It is a very British street and we also have flags up during the rugby, the Six Nations via the Church Street Association.
“I felt it brightened the street up to have the national flags, even when there isn’t an event on.
“It is a symbol of our country, what we stand for, our values and is a recognisable symbol around the world, very distinctive.”
He was in a flat above his pub when his deputy manager phoned him in a “state of distress and shock”, he said.
Mr Brace told the court he followed the men after they ripped the flags off the poles and saw them attempting to light the flags on fire, but they were “struggling to get it going”.
Prosecutor Mark Mullins told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court the men were heard saying ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘Stop bombing children’
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PA“I smelled a plastic burning smell like nylon and heard specifically ‘Allahu Akbar’. There were multiple voices saying it, they were all joining in,” he said.
“They were oblivious to me being there. I was tempted to intervene, but thought better of it.”
The prosecution alleges all three defendants were collaborating to damage the flags, and that Nour Sami was actively encouraging the two men and serving as a lookout, despite not being seen pulling down a flag.
Peter Lawlor, who had been drinking outside the nearby Eel Pie public house, said one of the men was wearing an “Arab-style scarf”, one had a hood up, and another said “f*** the UK”.
The trial continues.