‘Complete misunderstanding’: French mayors confused over flag order as Macron recognises Palestine

French local governments have slammed the central government’s order to not hoist Palestinian flags even as the country has recognised the Palestinian state.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced that France has recognised the Palestinian state. But the French interior ministry has ordered local governments to not hoist Palestinian flags. The order has confused French mayors.

The interior ministry said that the display of flags on public buildings could lead to public unrest, according to Reuters.

The news agency further reported the ministry as saying that, as of Tuesday night, 86 town halls across France had flown the Palestinian flag in violation of the order last week that told regional government representatives to block such moves as per the French law. But local officials slammed the order.

Nanterre Mayor Raphael Adam said that the situation was a “complete misunderstanding” to him, according to Reuters.

“You can’t have a government asking its representatives to oppose raising a flag at the same time it’s recognising the state,” said Adam.

Some towns followed the interior ministry’s directive to take down flags. However, they said that the directive undermined the message of solidary with Palestinians that Macron sought to convey with the recognition.

Adam’s administration also took down the flag after the court ordered that flags must be taken down. Under French law, political, religious, or philosophical flags cannot be hoisted on public buildings. But officials have pointed out that Ukrainian flags have been flown and projected on Eiffel Tower in Paris.

“When we raised a Ukrainian flag, no one told us anything!” Gilles Poux, the Mayor of La Courneuve, told Reuters.

“Speaking of neutrality is hypocritical. Liberty, equality, fraternity: there’s nothing neutral about these values,” Poux further said.