Council meeting to be held on flying of Palestine flag at city hall

The exterior of Belfast City Hall. It is a large, white Victorian building with blue-domed roofs. There is a large statue of Queen Victoria outside of the main entrance. There is a large statue of an old man to the right of the building, which sits on a neat square of green grass. Getty Images

The flying of the flag was approved at a meeting of the council at the start of November

Mark Simpson
Community correspondent, BBC News NI

A special meeting of Belfast City Council is to be held on Monday to reconsider whether to fly the Palestinian flag.

It had been due to be flown on Saturday but it did not appear after the council received legal advice on the issue.

The council voted last month by an overwhelming majority, 41 to 15, to fly the flag.

Unionists objected and then used the 'call-in' procedure at City Hall to challenge the legitimacy of the decision.

The legal advice over the flag-flying has now been published on Belfast City Council's website.

It states that "the decision was not arrived at after a proper consideration of relevant facts and issues".

Sarah is standing in large room and in the background there is a black and white tiled floor. Sarah is wearing glasses and has her hair tied back

Sarah Bunting said flying the flag would 'risk creating further division'

The 60-member council will now revisit the issue on Monday.

Councillors will gather at 17:30 GMT, ahead of the monthly meeting of the 60-member council.

The plan to fly the flag was approved at a meeting of the council at the start of November.

It was proposed by Sinn Féin councillor Ryan Murphy to mark the United Nations "international day of solidarity with the people of Palestine".

He said: "In light of the continued genocide against the people of Gaza, it is right that we show solidarity and support to them."

With 22 representatives on the council, Sinn Féin is the largest party at City Hall.

Defending unionist objections, the leader of the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) at City Hall, Sarah Bunting, said: "Belfast City Hall represents everyone in our city. Flying the Palestinian flag would draw us into a deeply contested international conflict and risk creating further division here at home."

A detailed legal analysis of the plan to fly the Palestinian flag was distributed to councillors last week.

They were told "the call-in was considered by counsel to have merit on procedural grounds but not on community impact grounds".

Monday's monthly meeting is the last scheduled session of the full council this year.

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