--- title: Brooklyn Bridge White Flags Confuse Everyone description: Police removed a pair of white flags that mysteriously replaced the American stars and stripes on top of the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday morning. canonical: https://time.com/3019446/brooklyn-bridge-white-flags/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-22T16:41:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:51.449Z og:title: Brooklyn Bridge White Flags Confuse Everyone og:description: "We will not surrender." og:url: https://time.com/3019446/brooklyn-bridge-white-flags/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brooklyn Bridge White Flags Confuse Everyone twitter:description: "We will not surrender." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Mystery White Flags on Brooklyn Bridge Provoke Social Media Frenzy by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 22, 2014 4:41 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 22, 2014 4:41 PM UTC The New York Police Department has removed a pair of white flags that mysteriously replaced the American stars and stripes [on top of the Brooklyn Bridge](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/nyregion/white-flags-mysteriously-appear-atop-the-brooklyn-bridge.html) Tuesday morning. While the unexplained security breach is under investigation by police, the incident has incited a slew of social media confusion and some conspiracy theories. Has Brooklyn surrendered? > [](https://twitter.com/Gothamist/status/491583352622034945) > [](https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/491583580074938369) [Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams issued a statement](http://www.businessinsider.com/nypd-investigating-mystery-white-flag-on-brooklyn-bridge-2014-7) that no, “We will not surrender our public safety to anyone, at any time.” Were the flags in question actually American flags that had been whitewashed? Oren Yaniv of the _Daily News_ said yes: > [](https://twitter.com/OrenYaniv/status/491609933230927872) Even more suspiciously still, the police folded the flags in a ceremonial manner after taking them down: > [](https://twitter.com/kevindepew/status/491605004453953539) While Adams is approaching the confusing stunt very seriously — “If flying a white flag atop the Brooklyn Bridge is someone’s idea of a joke, I’m not laughing. The public safety of our city is of paramount importance, particularly our landmarks and bridges that are already known to be high-risk targets.” — others online are taking a lighter approach. It’s a marketing stunt for a little-remembered British singer of the 1990s: > [](https://twitter.com/PreetiBhuyan/status/491610839976517632) > [](https://twitter.com/sonicdork/status/491613988518891520) Some thought it was a message from the borough on the other side of the bridge: > [](https://twitter.com/carney/status/491608918855266305) Others speculated what Brooklyn might be giving in to: > [](https://twitter.com/seanludwig/status/491590077844180992) If it helps, public officials aren’t sure either. In the words of an NYPD Deputy Commission for Public Information officer [to _Business Insider_](http://www.businessinsider.com/nypd-investigating-mystery-white-flag-on-brooklyn-bridge-2014-7), “We don’t know anything.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3019446/brooklyn-bridge-white-flags/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3019446/brooklyn-bridge-white-flags/"},"headline":"Mystery White Flags on Brooklyn Bridge Provoke Social Media Frenzy","datePublished":"2014-07-22T16:41:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:51.449Z","description":"\"We will not surrender\"","url":"https://time.com/3019446/brooklyn-bridge-white-flags/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","New York","Bizarre","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3019446/brooklyn-bridge-white-flags/","name":"Mystery White Flags on Brooklyn Bridge Provoke Social Media Frenzy"}}]}] ```