Met Police issued wrong advice on flag displays
THE METROPOLITAN Police has admitted it gave councils the wrong advice on the hanging of Palestinian flags on public property and now says express permission must be sought from local authorities for the displays.
The Met had previously said that the flags could be put up on street furniture such as lamp posts unless the council clearly forbade it.
Responding to a letter from campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), the force said it recognised this advice had been incorrect.
“We accept that this is inaccurate and that the correct position is that unless a local authority actively consents to the affixing of flags in the street then a person is not entitled to do so and they may be committing an offence,” it wrote.
“Our position remains that the local authority has primary responsibility for enforcing any such offences.”
Following October 7, Palestinian flags have been displayed in large numbers in some areas of the UK.
While those who put up the flags say they are acting in of solidarity with those suffering in Gaza, many in the Jewish community remember the celebrations that took place at several sites across London on October 7 where Palestinian flags were waved as an apparent tribute to the Hamas massacres. Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UKLFI, said: “We are pleased that the Met Police have now accepted that it is illegal to hang Palestinian flags from lamp posts in public streets without permission from the council. “The previous advice, suggesting that this was lawful was encouraging disrespect for local authorities and intimidation of their staff… as well as criminal offences of hanging the flags, thereby exacerbating communal strife.” Last month, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets in London, Lutfur Rahman, announced he had made the “difficult” decision to remove Palestinian flags from council-owned property because their presence was being used by some to “misrepresent” the borough and its residents.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign has insisted that “it very much doubts” the flags cause “any harm”.