Why were Israeli flags erected along Hastings' seafront?

Hastings residents woke up on 7 October to an unusual sight along the seafront: Israeli flags stretching for nearly a mile from Hastings Pier to the Marina in St Leonards, near the town's mosque. 

The act was bizarre, but the timing was not lost on residents of the southern coastal English town.

The flags appeared on the second anniversary of 7 October attacks on southern Israel that triggered Israel's genocide in Gaza that has killed and wounded more than 245,000 Palestinians.

CCTV footage recorded between 1:20am and 6am appeared to show a figure moving along the promenade, stringing the flags from lamppost to lamppost.

By sunrise, the display was complete, and the scale of the act quickly became the subject of widespread discussion.

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