France warns mayors against flying Palestinian flag when govt formally recognises state on Sept 22
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Several French mayors had announced their intention to display the Palestinian flag on their town halls.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS – France’s interior ministry has ordered prefects to oppose the display of Palestinian flags on town halls and other public buildings next week as Paris is set to formally recognise the Palestinian state.
“The principle of neutrality in public service prohibits such displays,” the interior ministry said in a telegram, a copy of which was seen by AFP on Sept 19. Any decision by mayors to fly the Palestinian flag should be referred to the courts, the interior ministry said.
Israel’s war on Gaza is a hot-button issue in France, and it is not uncommon to see flags hanging out of windows in Paris and elsewhere. Several French mayors have already announced their intention to display the Palestinian flag on their town halls next week.
On Sept 22, France is set to formally recognise a Palestinian state
The warning from the interior ministry came after Socialist leader Olivier Faure called for the Palestinian flag to be flown on town halls on Sept 22, when Jewish worshippers celebrate the Rosh Hashanah holiday, the Jewish New Year.
However the interior ministry said any such display would amount to “taking sides in an international conflict”.
“It is therefore appropriate,” the telegram said, “to ask mayors who display such flags on their public buildings to cease doing so and, in the event of refusal or non-compliance” to refer those mayors’ decisions to administrative courts.
Courts will decide
Mr Faure, the Socialist leader, said on Sept 19 that prefects did not have the power to ban such displays. “The courts will decide if necessary,” he said on X.
“An outgoing minister should manage day-to-day affairs, not seek to symbolically oppose the decision taken by the president to recognise a Palestinian state,” Mr Faure added, referring to Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
France is awaiting the announcement of the new Cabinet line-up after French President Emmanuel Macron last week named his close ally Sebastien Lecornu as the new prime minister to resolve a deepening political crisis.
Several French town halls have had to remove Palestinian flags following court decisions.
In June, a court ordered the mayor of the eastern city of Besancon, Ms Anne Vignot, to remove the Palestinian flag, saying she had “violated the principle of neutrality of public services” by displaying the flag. Ms Vignot said at the time she was “shocked” by the ruling.
“Is denouncing a massacre and supporting a starving people under bombardment no longer a cause that unites us under the banner of the Republic?” she said in a statement.
The same month, the mayor of the southern city of Nice had to remove Israeli flags from the front of the town hall following a court order.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Mr Macron of pursuing a policy of “appeasement” of the Hamas militants. Mr Macron said on Sept 18 that recognising a Palestinian state would isolate Hamas.
Several other world leaders have announced their intent to formally recognise the Palestinian state during the UN summit.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many French city halls have displayed the Ukrainian flags in a gesture of solidarity. AFP
