NANTERRE, France: As French President Emmanuel Macron recognized Palestine statehood earlier this week, dozens of town halls across France hoisted the Palestinian flag in celebration — defying instructions by Macron’s interior ministry not to do so.
By Wednesday, some had taken the flag down after regional authorities initiated legal proceedings — an episode which some mayors said undermined the message of solidarity Macron sought to make with his largely symbolic recognition.
“For me it’s a complete misunderstanding,” Raphael Adam, mayor of Nanterre outside Paris, told Reuters. “You can’t have a government asking its representatives to oppose raising a flag at the same time it’s recognizing the state.”
The city raised the flag in a ceremony on Monday but a day later, the Nanterre administrative court ruled it should be removed after the city defied an order by the regional representative, known as the prefect, to take it down.
Under French law, public buildings cannot be used as platforms for expressing political, religious or philosophical opinions. Local officials noted, however, that Ukrainian flags have been displayed and even projected on the Eiffel Tower.
