The Palestinian flag has been raised over Belfast City Hall after a vote was passed by councillors on the 'deeply divisive' issue. The flag was lifted shortly after 12am on Tuesday, December 2 after a Sinn Fein motion to raise the flag on the next available day was passed by 32 votes to 28 at a council meeting on Monday evening.

An Alliance Party amendment that proposed illuminating the City Hall in the colours of Palestine in January instead of raising the flag was earlier defeated by 49 votes to 11. The council had voted by a larger majority last month to fly the flag on City Hall on November 29 to mark the UN international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

But the flag was not flown after the council received legal advice following a unionist move to initiate a cal

See Full Page