A vote has been passed at Belfast City Hall to fly the Palestine flag on Saturday 29 November following a council vote passed by a margin of 41 to 15. Sinn Féin Councillor Ryan Murphy proposed the motion at the council’s monthly full meeting. Referencing the ongoing ceasefire violations of so-called ‘Israel’, he said:
I’ve had people contact me in regards to what they can to try and highlight those ongoing human rights abuses and to try and support the people of Palestine in any way they can.
He put forward the display of the flag as another means to show support for those still enduring Zionist genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. November 29 is International Day for Solidarity with the People of Palestine, and the flying of their colours will seemingly be the first occasion on which a non-Union Flag has been flown at a government building in the North of Ireland, other than those displayed in specific exempted circumstances. The European flag is put up on Europe Day, and those for the visiting heads of state of other nations can also be flown.
No fleg, no peace: Palestine flag set to fly in Belfast
‘Fleg‘ flying remains a hugely contentious issue, with a Belfast City Council vote to restrict flying of the Union Flag to 18 days per year triggering months of rioting and protests in 2012-2013 from irate loyalists. They claimed the disappearance of the flag for much of the year was an attempt to erode ‘Britishness’ from the Six Counties. Previously the banner – often referred to by Catholic, Nationalist and Republican (CNR) community as The Butcher’s Apron for its association with imperial brutality – had flown every day of the year since 1906.
There are already attempts to stage fresh street opposition to the Palestine colours loathed by the genocide-backing wing of Belfast politics. The Official Protestant Coalition’s (OPC) Facebook page is urging protest on 29 November. In a deeply confused statement, they say:
On November 29th, you have two options – two ways – to resist the Islamic Republican movement.
This is part of a recurring attempt to dishonestly tie the Palestine movement to republicanism and Islam, trigger words for a significant number of loyalists opposed to a united Ireland and all non-Christian religion (other than Judaism to the extent they unfairly link that faith to ‘Israel’). In text adjoining an image featuring People Before Profit (PBP) MLA Gerry Carroll and Alliance party leader Naomi Long, the OPC go on to say:
We need to make a stand. This cannot be the same one-hour protest that we all forget about. This has to make headline news. Here we stand – we can do no more. No organisation, no leaders: just people power.
Flag in support of human rights also set to fly
Carroll has prominently led the campaign for the resignation of Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Education Minister Paul Givan following his propaganda junket to stolen Palestinian land. The DUP have accused the Alliance party of meekly following along – i.e. being insufficiently pro-genocide for a party associated with neutrality. It is likely a large contingent of Palestine supporters will also be present on November 29 at the City Hall, perhaps the city’s most prominent building.
An additional proposal to fly the Human Rights Day flag alongside the United Nations flag for Human Rights Day on December 10 was also passed. Following the successful proposal for the Palestinian flag, Councillor Murphy said in a statement on the Sinn Féin website:
In light of the continued genocide against the people of Gaza, it is right that we show solidarity and support to them as they face a continuing barbaric onslaught from the Israeli military,
The council meeting featured additional controversy, as a number of councillors walked out of the meeting following a decision by DUP Lord Mayor Tracy Kelly to shut down discussion of Givan’s trip to the Zionist entity. Sinn Féin Councillor Caoimhín McCann had attempted to raise Givan’s transgressions before being cut off by Kelly on the basis that his points were not relevant to council business. McCann said he had a relevant proposal to submit, but was cut short from doing so by Kelly, who sat stony-faced through the later vote to hoist the Palestine flag.
Council meeting descends into farce as mayor blocks genocide discussion
Deputy Lord Mayor Paul Doherty of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) spoke afterwards about how he and colleagues “sought clarity on process” (i.e. whether it was legal for the mayor to take action in this way) following Kelly’s intervention, but said “that was shut down as well”. A walkout of councillors followed, leaving a half-empty chamber. He said:
If the mayor’s going to shut down the conversation around genocide and the crisis in Palestine, we’re shutting down the meeting.
Traditional Unionist Voice deputy leader Ron McDowell, who joined Givan’s Zionist-bought holiday in the settler-colony, said:
[The] attempt to twist routine minutes into an opportunistic political attack was irresponsible, transparent, and fundamentally disrespectful to the institution.
Political attacks in a political setting, who’d have thought it? He went on to say:
The people of Belfast expect their Council to deal with the business before it – not to become a stage for last-minute political ambushes and point-scoring.
The people of Belfast, including his own constituents, also want their elected representatives to serve their constituents rather than acting as the bought-off stooges of Zionist terrorists. Compounding that, McDowell and his cohorts are likely to remain more exercised by a piece of cotton on a flagpole than the mass murder of Palestinian children or the material needs of those they are meant to serve.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.