{"id":213478,"date":"2025-12-03T16:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T16:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/213478\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T16:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T16:39:09","slug":"tensions-rise-over-belfast-city-hall-palestinian-flag-after-judge-rejects-bid-to-take-it-down-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/213478\/","title":{"rendered":"Tensions rise over Belfast City Hall Palestinian flag after judge rejects bid to take it down \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rival protesters were involved in angry exchanges outside Belfast<\/a> City Hall on Tuesday night amid a controversy over the flying of a Palestinian flag from the landmark building.<\/p>\n

One man aged in his late teens was arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour during the incident, which unfolded close to the Christmas<\/a> market currently operating on the grounds of City Hall.<\/p>\n

The flag had been erected on the building shortly after midnight on Tuesday and was removed at dusk.<\/p>\n

Its flying came after the council passed a motion to raise the flag in a gesture of support<\/a> for the people of Palestine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday afternoon, a judge rejected a legal bid to have the flag taken down earlier than its scheduled removal time.<\/p>\n

A group protesting against the flying of the flag gathered at City Hall around 5.30pm. <\/p>\n

Officers said the protest was peaceful but they said at 6.30pm another group arrived and began to \u201cantagonise protesters\u201d.<\/p>\n

A second man (40s) was arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour at the scene but police said that was unconnected to any of the protest-related activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn evidence-gathering operation is in place and in due course we will review the footage gathered and consider any further potential offences,\u201d the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are fundamental human rights which are protected in law and allow individuals to engage in peaceful protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, these rights are limited by the need to uphold the rights of others, protect public health and safety, minimise disruption to normal life and by the need to prevent and detect crime,\u201d the force said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Councillors vote to raise Palestinian flag over Belfast City HallOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The earlier legal bid was made by Traditional Unionist Voice<\/a> (TUV) member Ann McClure, with Mr Justice Michael Humphreys hearing arguments at Belfast High Court.<\/p>\n

During a protest held outside the court buildings as the case was being heard, a 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour.<\/p>\n

Ms McClure had sought an interim injunction that would have required the flag to be taken down earlier than scheduled pending a fuller court hearing on whether the council followed correct procedures in the vote.<\/p>\n

She said the vote should have had a qualified majority, requiring 80 per cent of councillors to approve a decision, rather than a straight majority.<\/p>\n

A Sinn F\u00e9in motion to raise the flag was passed by 32 votes to 28 on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

The council voted by a larger majority last month to fly the flag on City Hall on November 29th to mark the United Nations international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. However, that did not occur after the council received legal advice following a unionist move to initiate a \u201ccall-in\u201d mechanism for the proposal to be reconsidered.<\/p>\n

Delivering his ruling on interim relief on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Justice Humphreys made clear he was not adjudicating on the substantive legal arguments around whether the council had followed proper procedures around the call-in. He said he was instead focused on the application for the flag to be taken down pending the fuller hearing. <\/p>\n

Ms McClure also sought to prevent the council interpreting a call-in in a similar way until the matter is resolved in the courts.<\/p>\n

Mr Justice Humphreys said he had to balance the \u201cdanger\u201d of the courts \u201cusurping\u201d the council\u2019s ability to make decisions against any potential harm or prejudice caused to the applicant by the flag flying.<\/p>\n

The judge noted Ms McClure was on holiday and questioned how the flying of a flag in Belfast could therefore offend her. <\/p>\n

Mr Justice Humphreys said he came down \u201cfirmly in favour\u201d of the decision-making council.<\/p>\n

The wider case is set to be heard by another judge. The next hearing is listed for Friday.<\/p>\n

During Monday\u2019s council meeting, an Alliance Party amendment proposing illuminating the City Hall in the colours of Palestine in January instead of raising the flag was defeated by 49 votes to 11.<\/p>\n

While Sinn F\u00e9in welcomed the outcome of the vote to fly the flag, unionists expressed anger. The DUP and TUV accused the council of an abuse of process. \u2014PA<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Palestinian state \u2018only\u2019 solution to Israeli conflict, says Pope LeoOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rival protesters were involved in angry exchanges outside Belfast City Hall on Tuesday night amid a controversy over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[663,9,10,13,14,6,3857,11,12,15,16,5,72,47,7,8,51350,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-213478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-palestine","21":"tag-sinn-fein","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories","24":"tag-traditional-unionist-voice","25":"tag-world","26":"tag-world-news","27":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115656626325545234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}