They did not follow Bruno Retailleau’s instructions. More than fifty municipalities led by the left raised the Palestinian flag in the pediment of their town hall on Monday, September 22, a day chosen by Emmanuel Macron to officially recognize the state of Palestine to the UN.
The Interior Ministry had instructed the prefects to end any paved under the principle of public service neutrality, non -interference in the international policy of France and the risk of “serious disorders” to public order. But at noon, Beauvau had identified 52 refractory municipalities, of the 34,875 that the country has.
“Not the Hamas flag”
HAS Saint-Denis (Sena-Saint-Denis)Mayor PS Mathieu Hanotin was going on Monday morning the red, black, white and green banner along with the French and European flags.
“We want to mark the blow of this historic day (…). For years I have been fighting for the emergence of a solution to two states such as the only lasting solution to expect a peace in the Middle East,” he said, also evoking a “testimony of international solidarity against massacres in progress.”
Next to him, the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure, at the origin of the idea of moving the municipalities, said that “he regretted that the Minister of the Interior would not find anything better than trying to condemn the mayors who fulfill their duty of solidarity.” “This flag is not the flag of Hamas, it is the flag of women and men who also have the right to freedom and self -determination,” he said.
In Malakoff (Haut-de-Seine), the communist mayor placed a Palestinian flag on Friday, remained in the pediment of the City Council, despite a court order of the Administrative Court of Cergy-Pontoise. On Monday, the judge in summary procedures ordered his withdrawal under the penalty of a fine of 150 euros per day of delay.
Small municipalities too
The Red, Black, White and Green Banner is also exhibited on the pediment of other town halls in the paris region, Such as the Couneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis), Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Ddenis), Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), Bagneux (Hauts-de-Seine), Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), Ivry-Sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) (ESSONNE), Savigny-Le-Temple (Seine-Et-Marne) …
In another part of France, Lille (North), Boulogne-Sur -mer (Pas-de-Calais), Creil (Oise), Rennes (Ile-Et-Vilaine) and Nantes (Loira-Atlantique) The example followed. “Far from the instrumentalizations, far from the scandalous comments, our responsibility is to reject silence and do everything in our possession, here and now, so that the horror ceases,” said Rennes’ socialist mayor Nathalie Appéré.
The smallest municipalities have followed their example in large cities such as Chenôves (Saône-Et-Loire), whattigny (côte-d’or), tarnos (Landes), Gabrels (Hérault) …
In Carhaix-Paraguer (Finistère), The municipality of 7,300 inhabitants in Finistère, the regionalist mayor (DVG) Christian Troadec explained to the AFP that he raised the Palestinian flag in reaction to the words of Bruno Retilleau to have only the French flag. “There is also the European flag, the Breton flag, certainly the French flag in the City of Carhaix will not have to be!” He said.
In the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the communist mayor of Mauléon-Clicharre (3,000 inhabitants), who had shown a Palestinian flag on Friday, withdrew it on Saturday after the derivation to administrative justice by the prefect of the department as part of a summary, before putting it on Monday, reports Sud-Ouest. “We will kidnap it tomorrow (Tuesday, September 23, Editor’s note) at 7 am,” said Louis Labadot councilor in the Regional Daily.
Israeli flag
Palestine colors are also shown abroad. At the meeting, the municipalities of Saint-Denis, Port, Saint-Paul, Sainte-Suzanne and the Regional Council raised the Palestinian flag, the first reports.
Other cities have opted for hybrid solutions, such as Paris, which projected the two Israeli and Palestinian flags in the Eiffel Tower on Sunday night with a La Paix Colombian.
In Brest, the Palestinian flag does not rise to the pediment of the City Council, but will be screened in the building. The socialist mayor François Cuillerre also snores a UN standard, “Universal Symbol of Peace.”
In Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), Mayor PS Karim Bouamrane installed, in addition to the Palestinian flag, a banner that pronounces the “solution of two states” and includes an Israeli flag next to those of the EU and the UN.
In Corbeil-Esonnes, a twin city with Jerusalem-Eest, Mayor DVG Bruno Piriou announced the distribution of 1,000 Palestinian flags. But the Administrative Court of Versailles has ordered the mayor to “interrupt the organization of the distribution of flags, scheduled today at 6.30 pm”, and to withdraw the Palestinian flag of the City Council.
Marseille, finally, had promised a “strong act” for the French recognition of the Palestinian state. If the city does not show any Palestinian flag in its public buildings, Mayor Benoît Payan announced the twinning of the city of Marseille with the Palestinian commune of Bethlehem.
Source: BFM TV
