Palestine flag raising cancellation prompts city hall demonstration in Regina

Despite the cancellation of a planned flag raising, a group of demonstrators gathered at Regina city hall Friday to mark Palestine’s Independence Day.

Fatma Khairy was one of around 100 people taking part amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

“If I went through a difficult time, I'd like someone to stand with me, to help me, to support me. That's why I'm here. To support people in Gaza,” Khairy said.

Palestine’s flag may not have been raised on the city’s ceremonial pole, but there was no shortage of them waving in front of City Hall.

Demonstrators expressed frustration with both the conflict in the middle east and the city’s last minute change, announced the night before the planned flag raising at the direction of outgoing Mayor Sandra Masters.

"It’s unfair, and it's a coward action. Why do you want to silence your citizens?” Khairy said.

Police helped de-escalate a brief clash with a counter-protestor, but the conflict in Gaza has been a source of tension in cities across Canada and elsewhere. It also led to a review of Regina’s flag policy earlier this year after an Israeli flag was raised in May.

Council tabled potential changes in September, including a recommendation barring all nation and state flag raisings with limited exceptions.

“The only guarantee in this is that I can't make anyone happy right now on this. It's tough,” City Clerk Jim Nicol told reporters Thursday, prior to the abrupt cancellation.

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Valerie Zink, a member of Palestine Solidarity Regina, said organizers applied in accordance with the city’s flag protocol, which was approved.

“They were expecting it to be approved since they were invited by city staff to submit that application,” Zink said. “To be honest, I think everyone expected it to go ahead, quietly and peacefully with very little attention. But it's obviously gone in a different direction now because of Sandra Masters’ decision to shut it down.”

Gustavo Zentner is with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) as the vice president for Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The organization is applauding the city for calling off the flag raising.

“This became an issue of political equivalence because there's one country [having a flag raising] then this other country should be, and you can't do that because they're simply two different scenarios,” Zentner said.

Zentner added that he does not want to see flag raisings disappear entirely, as they’re often an opportunity to celebrate different cultures.

“I think that Canadians will benefit from joining, passing or driving by or celebrating people from different nationalities,” Zentner said. “That is different than what we saw today at city hall. And it's certainly different than the political justification that was introduced.”

According to Nicol, the recommendations for the flag policy will likely go before the new council at some point in the future.

A request for further comment from the mayor’s office was not returned in time for deadline.