Outrage as family flies Nazi flag

An Australian family has caused outrage in a small country town by flying the Nazi flag in their garden.

The local authority, however, said today it had no power to remove it.

The young family in Mannering Park, a community of 10,000 people about 125 miles north of Sydney, has refused neighbours’ requests to bring down the black swastika on a red and white background which they have flown alongside a skull-and-crossbones flag for the past week.

Wyong Shire Council had received several complaints but all the council could do was order the family to shorten the flag pole to the maximum allowable 20 feet, council spokeswoman Kristie Down said.

The flag’s owners, Darren Mackay and Jenni Duncombe, told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper they bought it for AUS$10 (€18.90) at a market and hoisted it about a week ago for fun.

Duncombe told the newspaper she did not realise the significance of the flag until the controversy erupted.

She said the couple had refused to remove the flag as an act of defiance after an angry neighbour threatened to hurt her and her four-month-old daughter Breeana if they did not bring it down, the newspaper said. The couple could not be immediately be contacted by The Associated Press.