Council officials in The Hague have removed a street sign naming a bike lane next to the Russian embassy ‘Glory to Ukraine Lane’.

The sign, erected by locals as a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was taken down on Wednesday afternoon because, the council said, “you can’t just go around hanging up signs”.

People living in the Zorgvliet neighbourhood had clubbed together to make the sign, which read ‘Slava Ukraini Laantje’. The move was also supported by the local branch of the pro-animal PvdD, which had attended the opening.

The council said back in January that it would not give official permission to name the cycle path as a sign of support for Ukraine and a majority of councillors had also voted against the plan.

It is not council policy to give cycle paths names, officials said.

Earlier this year, on the anniversary of the Russian invasion, a barrel organ set up shop outside the embassy building and played the Ukrainian national anthem for several hours.