Palestinian flag to be flown tomorrow from Sheffield Town Hall

The Palestinian flag will be flown from Sheffield Town Hall from 9am to 10pm tomorrow (29th November) for the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The decision follows calls from a number of pro-Palestinian groups for the flag to be flown. Julie Pearn, the chair of Sheffield Labour Friends of Palestine, submitted a question to the October meeting of Sheffield City Council, calling for the flag to be flown this Friday.

Tom Hunt, leader of the council, then made an official request for the flag to be flown, which was granted by council Chief Executive, Kate Josephs.

Sheffield City Council says the decision was carried out in line with its official flag protocols, and an impact equality assessment has been carried out. It has not disclosed details of the impact equality assessment.

The council’s flag protocols set out what flags the council can fly, and when. On most days, the Union Jack is flown. On a number of specific commemorative days, others are flown, such as the flags of the patron saints of the home nations, the Armed Forces Day flag, the Windrush Day flag, and the Yorkshire flag – among others.

The only circumstances in which any other flag can be flown is following a request by a government department, or a leader of a political group in the council – as has happened in this case.

The last time the Israeli flag was flown was following a request from the UK Government in the days after the 7th October attacks last year. On that occasion, protestors scaled Sheffield Town Hall, and took the flag down, in what the police called a “hate crime”.

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Minesh Parekh, Councillor for Crookes and Crosspool, said: “I’m really happy that the council is going to raise the Palestinian flag over the town hall in recognition of the UN day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“Sheffield has a long city of solidarity with Palestine. We were the first city in Europe to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state and I think it’s obvious to me we should be doing everything we can to brink an end to this conflict and support the Palestinian people.”

Featured image via Sheffield City Council