It’s not going so well for a pub in Sea Point, with an incident over the weekend sparking a massive backlash across social media.

The incident began when a group of friends drinking at Brian’s Bar, located on Regent Road in Sea Point, noticed the old South African flag on display above the bar area.

That’s a picture of the scene above, with Times LIVE catching wind of the incident on Sunday:

One user took to social media to detail the experience his friends had when they had enquired why the flag was up on the wall.

“A lawyer friend of mine and his buddies were arrested in Sea Point last night for kicking up a fuss about this flag at Brians bar‚” he tweeted.

“They called the cops to protect them after an argument with a Caucasian lady and her friends allegedly. They‚ Coloureds got arrested.

“Why is the symbol of our pain and suffering and oppression being displayed in 2017?

“They were held for 8 hrs and released this morning. Can’t say it surprises me….this is Cape Town.”

In the aftermath of the incident, criticism has been widespread. The barmen working there have apparently received telephonic threats, and owner Brian Dunn is bemused by what’s happening:

“Oh my jeez‚ the flag? That is not the only flag‚ I have 30 flags in there. That flag did nothing‚ it’s the politicians that did the problem‚ not the flag‚” he said.

Dunn said that patrons from all over the world enter the bar and they ask to hang up their country’s flag to which he obliges.

“All the flags in my place are donated. I put it up there because it is a talking point. I have all the old flags like Namibia. I have the old Rhodesian flag hanging there also‚” he said.

Dunn complained that the customers “threw 15 shot glasses at the barman on Friday evening”‚ and accused the group of “carrying on like complete idiots”.

He added:

“That South African flag has been up there for 12 years‚ it is only now that people are complaining. I can’t understand it. This is being blown out of proportion‚ the flag wasn’t put up to be a racist thing. A lot of people don’t even know what the old South African flag looks like‚” he said.

“The pub has been here for 23 years and this is the first altercation that has occurred in this bar over the flag. We have been threatened now. We have been getting phone calls all day of people threatening us. So the damn flag is down but we are still being threatened. My life is actually in danger here. The barman who was on duty when the incident happened‚ his life is also in danger now.”

The lawyer arrested is Richard Julies, and he took to social media to say that he doesn’t regret the incident.

Here is Richard’s account via his Facebook post, edited for length:

Saturday 26 August 2017 I was arrested by the Sea Point SAPS and charged with being “drunk in public” in terms of the Western Cape Liquor Act.

There is an old adage that “life is made up of choices”, in reductionist millennial speak: #choices.

On this day I made the choice to stand up and publicly speak out against one of the greatest symbols of oppression in our South African history – it had evoked such raw emotions in me seeing the old South African flag bombastically and prominently displayed in Brian’s Bar Sea Point: a middle finger to the fact that it is a source of immeasurable pain and trauma for the majority of this nation.

I made the choice to speak up and let my voice be heard loud and clear in Sea Point, a community that I have learned prefers superficial politeness over real honest dialogue, claiming to not see color but sheltering the slurs uttered under their breath at the dinner table. A neighbourhood in which I’ve lived for 5 years and still made to feel like the hotnot without the economic dompas.

I made the choice to not let my pain and the pain of those on whose weary shoulders I stand and whose struggles I reap the benefits of today, to be policed and regulated – I chose to say voetsek to the people who said “I agree with you but you can be more respectful, nicer, softer..” and willingly nosedive into the “sunken place”.

I made the choice to not be a casualty in the collision of fantastical male ego with unfettered power and authority which often seeks to force and manipulate womxn, children, the LGBTIQ into reverent silence and submission.

Today I choose to continue to entrust my faith in God and I remain mystified by the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Today I choose to celebrate the bonds of family and friendship that has been my anchor, and in the most trying times, have remained steadfast and enduring.

I choose to not allow the abuse of power to go unchallenged and will do all I can to ensure that those who made the decision regarding our unlawful detention and arrest and the farcical charge be held accountable so that others do not have to be victims.

I choose to always stand up for what I believe is right, no matter how uncomfortable it may be for myself and others, as silence equals complicity.

Saturday 26 August I was arrested by the Sea Point SAPS and was charged with “drunk in public” due to the above choices, and quite easily it was the proudest moment of my life.

Read his full Facebook post HERE.

As the story escalated, Julies spoke to EWN:

Julies says when he and his friends left the bar, the very same police officers arrested three of them for being drunk in public.

“The fact that in 2017 in Cape Town, a pub would put this up in such a cosmopolitan city given our history. All we did was express a legitimate outrage and that was met by an arrest.

“An arrested that was unlawful and I want the police to be accountable for that.”

He claims he was detained for several hours.

They also add that it’s not illegal to fly or display the old flag as it has never been banned.

It might not be illegal, but how can someone think it’s OK to fly a flag that carries with it such a history?

Perhaps even more alarmingly, how has the flag been on display for the past 12 years without someone kicking up a stink?

Come on people, get with the programme here. This is 2017 and that flag harks back to a truly awful period in our country’s history.

Take it down, admit you’re wrong, show remorse, accept that you will never understand the pain it has caused and do better.

Simple.

[sources:timeslive&facebook&ewn]