Star Metro - French town halls defy government warning to fly Palestinian flags

Macron is due to recognise a Palestinian state on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, following up on a pledge he made in the summer that angered Israel.

But hardline Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who is also leader of the right-wing Republicans Party, issued a circular last week ordering prefects -- the top local state-appointed officials -- to oppose the flying of the flags.

"The principle of neutrality in public service prohibits such displays," the interior ministry said, adding that any decisions by mayors to fly the Palestinian flag should be referred to courts.

The standoff has underlined the social and political tension in France in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas and the relentless bombardment and aid blockades by Israel on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that followed.

France is home to western Europe's largest Jewish population, at around half a million people, as well as a significant Muslim community sensitive to the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The Socialist Party (PS) mayors of Nantes and Rennes, big cities in western and northwestern France, flew the flags outside their city halls to mark the occasion.

"Our responsibility is to reject silence and to do everything in our power, here and now, to put an end to the horror," Rennes Mayor Nathalie Appere said in a statement.

In total 52 town halls out of 34,875 across the country were flying the flag, the interior ministry said.

- 'Historic day for peace' -

The northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis also raised the Palestinian flag at a ceremony attended by PS leader Olivier Faure, who opposed Retailleau's order and said he had written to Macron asking the president to rescind it.

"This flag is not the flag of Hamas, it is the flag of women and men who also have the right to freedom and self-determination," he said.

Foreign Minster Jean-Noel Barrot appeared wary of being drawn into the debate on what he described a "historic day for peace".

"I do not want... it to be used for political polemics, to divide us at a time when, more than ever, we need to be united to be strong," he told TF1 television.

The flags of both Israel and Palestine, as well as peace images of a dove and olive branch, were displayed late Sunday at the Eiffel Tower, which was illuminated in celebration of the recognition of the Palestinian state.

"Paris reaffirms its commitment to peace, which more than ever requires a two-state solution," Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Bluesky.

But hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon fulminated over the projection of the Israeli flag on the emblematic Paris landmark, saying that the "PS is betraying everyone at once".

Acknowledging the impassioned responses caused by his decision, which have included anger from within France's Jewish community, Macron posted a video on X on Sunday saying France wanted "peace, an immediate ceasefire and the release, without delay" of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Of the 251 people seized by Palestinian militants during their attack on Israel in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

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G.Boudreau--SMC