French towns fly Palestinian flag despite gov’t ban before recognition

France’s Ministry of the Interior, as of Monday morning, said 21 town halls had raised the Palestinian flag, according to its own count, despite Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who belongs to the right-wing Republicans party, telling municipal governments to observe “neutrality”. Many more municipal governments were expected to join those who chose to hoist the flag.

The mayors were responding to a call by the leader of France’s Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, who condemned what he called Retailleau’s “insane indecency”, calling on the outgoing interior minister, who resigned this week, to step aside.

“I regret that the minister found nothing better to do than to seek to condemn mayors who are doing their duty of solidarity,” Faure said. “How can we today say that this is a reprehensible act when we do not condemn what is happening in Gaza?” he added.

The communist mayor of the Parisian suburb of Malakoff, Jacqueline Belhomme, hoisted the Palestinian flag on Friday, refusing a police request to remove it and describing the removal order as a “prefectural coup”.

Belhomme told The Associated Press that “it is something symbolically important, just as we did some time ago with the Ukrainian flag when we stood with the Ukrainian people who were under attack by Russia.”

In a post on X, Socialist Party mayor of Nantes, Johanna Rolland, welcomed France’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, writing: “Nantes is accompanying this historic decision by the French Republic by raising, for the day, the Palestinian flag.”

The ongoing effort to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza will likely dominate proceedings at the gathering of world leaders in New York.

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, defended the decision amid growing pressure, calling recognition by countries a “categorical disavowal” of Hamas and “a great diplomatic victory for France”.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, said the move was an “extremely serious mistake” in an interview with local media. “It is the Hamastan that Emmanuel Macron recognizes today, not Palestine,” she said. Mathilde Panot, a leading figure in the left-wing France Unbowed party, said Le Pen was supporting the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Dominique de Villepin, a prominent French former prime minister, called on the country’s leaders not to ignore the “humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza” as they move to recognise Palestine.