TUV launches 'emergency' legal action to stop Belfast City Council flying Palestinian flag tonight

The move came after the council passed a Sinn Fein motion tonight to fly the Palestinian flag from City Hall in solidarity with the Palestinian people “on the next available day from midnight tonight”.

The Sinn Fein motion was passed by 32 votes to 28, however it was not made clear in the chamber tonight when the flag might actually be flown.

The motion had been delayed by legal challenges from unionists after the council voted in favour of flying the flag at last month's full council meeting.

However councillors heard tonight that the legal call-in did not merit blocking the Sinn Fein, after legal advice was sought by the council.

But after the Sinn Fein motion was passed tonight, TUV Councillor Ron McDowell issued a statement saying his party was taking urgent legal action to stop the flying of the flag tonight.

In his statement, he said: “Tonight, as a matter of urgency, Belfast City Council has disgraced itself. It has trampled on the rights of the minority and shown total disregard for due process.

“Having been frustrated by the law last week in their attempt to fly the Palestinian flag from City Hall, this evening they sought to prevent any legal challenge by voting to raise it from midnight. They know they are acting outside the rules, and they are attempting to outrun the courts.

“Unsurprisingly, emergency High Court proceedings will be lodged tonight, with an urgent hearing sought before midnight to put a stop to this.

“The days of Unionists quietly accepting such cavalier disregard for their rights — or watching the small Jewish community in our city being trampled upon — are over.

“My position remains clear and unchanged: the only flag that should fly from City Hall is the national flag of the United Kingdom."

If councillors "truly cared about human rights in the Middle East", he said, they would recall that in the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, nationalists, republicans and Alliance blocked efforts to light City Hall in the colours of the Israeli flag.

He added that the TUV had senior counsel and experienced junior counsel advice which is "crystal clear" and contradicts the council's legal advice that flying the Palestinian flag would not disproportionately impact any minorities in the city.

The Belfast Jewish Community had written to the council objecting to flying the flag, councillors heard tonight, however a group called Jews for Palestine had also written to the council supporting the Sinn Fein motion.

During tonight's meeting the council's solicitor went on record to defend her own work and that of a senior KC in their legal advice which dismissed unionist concerns about the Sinn Fein motion.

Councillor Sarah Bunting, DUP Group Leader, Belfast City Council also issued a statement tonight voicing similar concerns to the TUV.

“The decision to fly the Palestinian flag from midnight is a scandalous abuse of process, deliberately designed to side-step the procedures put in place to protect minorities in this city,” she said.

"This is a deeply divisive issue in Belfast, yet Sinn Fein and those who backed this move have shown no regard for the views of others and have simply railroaded their position through.

“Our small Jewish community will understandably view this as deeply intimidating and as a move that risks stoking antisemitism in our city. It is dangerous, it is cynical, and it must be called out for what it is.

“For decades, Sinn Fein has sought to marginalise and silence those who disagreed with them. If they believe unionists will simply accept this kind of heavy-handed, intolerant behaviour today, they are badly mistaken.”