Almost overnight, some of Salford's busiest roads became the latest scene in a striking national campaign.
Union Jack flags, secured in place by cable ties at a significant height, are fluttering from dozens of lampposts in the Broughton Road area and extend all the way into Salford Shopping City.
The trend is known online as Operation Raise the Colours, described by those involved as a grassroots effort to promote national pride and patriotism - and first appeared on the streets of Birmingham.
However there are also concerns about a more divisive motive and claims of links to extremist far-right organisations.
There is also the question of what happens to the flags going forward, and whether local authorities can or should leave them in place.
In Salford, the city council described both the Union Jack and St George's Cross flags as "legitimate symbols of our shared national heritage".
A spokesperson said the council "fully supported" residents who "choose to express their national and civic pride in a responsible and appropriate manner".
It said the recently installed flags would not be removed unless they pose a safety risk or amount to an offence like criminal damage.
But some local people see the flags as an attempt to promote far-right politics.
James Smith, 70, said the flags reminded him of the National Front, a far-right party which was particularly active in the mid-1970s.
Mr Smith, from the Higher Broughton area, said: "I actually don't like it.
"I know I'm British, I'm born here. But these Union Jacks have been hijacked.
"The far-right have hijacked it as their emblem, as their emblem to foment trouble amongst the people."
Others were unbothered by the sudden appearance of the flags.
Shopkeeper Mohammed Musazai, 25, said he believed they may have been put up overnight around the time of the August bank holiday weekend.
"During the day when I here or when I'm outside I didn’t see anyone put them on so they might have done it during the night."
Mr Musazai, who has worked at the Boozemart store on Broughton Road for around six years, said he was unsure on why the flags had been put up, but had been aware of social media clips on TikTok.
“I guess some people don’t like flags around the UK, they feel offended.
“I don’t know why they feel that way, but me personally I don’t feel that way, it’s just normal.”
There was also plenty of full-throated support.
One woman living close to Broughton Road was ahead of the trend with two large flag poles with a Union Jack and St George’s flag in her front yard.
Geraldine, 65, said she had deep concerns about migration and wanted to show that “this is still Great Britain”.
She said: “You go over to places, you go away and in Wales and places like that, you see flags flying but never down here
“I thought my god what’s it coming to now? It’s nice don’t get me wrong, you know America do it don’t they?
“They have them outside the houses and everything and that, so why shouldn’t we do it?”
Near neighbour Ben O’Brien, 37, said he recently returned from a family holiday to Mallorca and thought the flags were a “nice welcome home” and did not understand the controversy in some quarters.
“You see it in the news about oh, ‘you can’t have your flags up because it’s racist or oh I’m being told to take me flag down.
“I feel it’s just ridiculous that anyone thinks it’s a point of controversy. It’s a flag, who cares?”
Anti far-right extremism charity Hope Not Hate has stressed it is not against British or English flags being displayed, but claims some involved in the Operation Raise the Colours campaign have links to the far right.
The research group said the movement was co-founded by Andrew Currien, otherwise known as Andy Saxon, who has allegedly had links with the English Defence League and Britain First.
Britain First has donated "75% of its flag stock" to those hanging flags in Manchester and the West Midlands, the group's leader Paul Golding said in a post on X.
In a statement Hope Not Hate said: "Despite what people claim on social media, it's not illegal to be proud to be English or British".
The charity said it was also "true that not everyone who has raised a flag is far right", but there were questions about the motivations behind Operation Raise the Colours given those involved.
In Merseyside, Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram also expressed concerns about the flag being co-opted by the far right.
He told BBC Radio Merseyside he remembered far right groups like Combat 18 and the National Front trying to recruit people when he used to go to watch Liverpool FC as a child.
"The far right hijacked the Union Jack or the Union Flag for right-wing party political purposes and I don't think that they should be allowed to use the flag in that way."
Mr Rotheram said he was not against people "loving their country" or showing patriotism.
However he added: "Where I do have an issue is if people overstep that boundary, where they're using it as some signal that people who they might describe as non-English or non-British, they're not welcome."