Crowds gathered on Lancaster Road

Chants of “free, free Palestine’ rang out along Lancaster Road on Friday as Preston City Council raised the Palestinian flag over the Town Hall entrance in a show of solidarity with the people of Gaza.

The move followed a request from campaign group ‘Children of the Ghetto’.  Several hundred people gathered outside the Town Hall entrance to hear speeches and show their support ahead of a bigger rally due to take place in the City centre on Saturday evening.

The Palestine and Preston City Council flags flying together

The plan had initially been to fly the flag over the Council building throughout the weekend but there appears to have been a bit of a rethink and the flag was quickly taken down again following the speeches.

On Thursday the council leader Peter Rankin had announced the Town Hall would fly the Palestinian flag “in solidarity with the people of Gaza who are locked in a bitter and long lasting conflict with Israel.”

The crowd waved Palestinian Flags

A new release was issued on Friday afternoon to say the city council had now u-turned on its decision.

The Union flag is now to fly at half-mast over the Town Hall for the weekend and a peace flag will be flown from Monday 28 July for a week.

Councillor Rankin said: “We have listened and reflected to the views expressed to us about flying the Palestinian flag in Preston. I have been truly touched by the many views that have been expressed from all sides.

“It is clear this is a very emotive issue and we have had literally hundreds of people from Preston and indeed from around the world contact us about it.

“Everyone I have spoken to and have had correspondence with, understands the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the suffering that is taking place in this conflict. We do however understand that there is, as with any conflict, suffering on both sides.

“Our aim all along with wanting to fly the flag is to highlight the suffering of the people in Gaza and to appeal for peace. Certainly, a cease fire at least in a hope of trying to get dialogue going and limit the suffering of everyone involved in this sorry conflict.

“So to recognise all those who have lost their lives in this conflict we will now fly the Union Flag at half-mast over the weekend. Then from Monday, we will fly the flag of peace as a symbol of hope for a cease fire and future peace talks.”

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