Crime

Vandals keep tearing down Pride flags at Scottish shopping centre

Jun 14 2019
Written by PinkNews Staff Writer

Vandals rip down rainbow Pride flags at Olympia Shopping Arcade Kirkcaldy in Scotland. (Facebook)

A shopping centre in Scotland has posted CCTV footage of vandals pulling down rainbow flags celebrating Pride month on not one, but two occasions.

Olympia Shopping Arcade Kirkcaldy, in Fife, took to Facebook on June 7 to share footage of two vandals pulling down rainbow flags hanging from the rafters of the shopping centre’s walkways.

The clip shows two men, both drinking alcohol, trying to rip down the flag from its position.

The centre was targeted again on June 9 after restoring the rainbow flags, this time by four men.

“So here we are trying to brighten up the arcade as it’s pride month!,” said Olympia Shopping Arcade on Facebook after the first incident.

“Yesterday we put up 5 pride flags… More are coming but it’s all we could reach with the small ladder we had…. Anyway today during broad daylight some people took exception to our flags and not only took them down… But burned them too!

“Now firstly is pathetic! It OUR arcade, we pay our rent, we look after our businesses and we help each other out… So if we want to put flags up… THAT’S OUR BUSINESS TO!”

Pride flag ripped down by vandals at Olympia Shopping Arcade Kirkcaldy in Scotland. (Facebook)

The shopping centre said it had contacted police but hoped that customers might recognise the two culprits in the video.

“We don’t deserve this, every one of us is a small business, trying to do our bit to offer the community things that they can’t get elsewhere! So more flags will go up and we will battle through,” the centre wrote on Facebook.