Staff at an Oxford college were told to remove union flags displayed in the wake of last week's terrorist atrocities in the United States.

Two people working at Ruskin College, in Walton Street, put the flags on their desks but the college's general secretary, Chris Wilkes, told them to remove the flags on Wednesday.

One worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "These two have done it to show solidarity with Britain and America. They're being told to remove them at a time when they're trying to let people know that we feel patriotic. They should be allowed to do as they wish."

Mr Wilkes said: "As a college, we were outraged by what happened in America and we greatly sympathise with what went on. But we have international students and students from ethnic minorities and we feel at this time it's important that we shouldn't be showing divisions.

"We feel that putting up union flags emphasises divisions rather than bringing people together, which is what this college is about."

The college was founded in 1899 to allow working men to study in order to achieve social change.

**Protesters staged a giant board game in Oxford last night to highlight their fears about the threat of war after last week's terrorist attacks.

The 20-strong group gathered at Carfax Tower to set up a life-size version of Risk, in which players compete to take over the world.