Paris – The mayor of the French city of Nice, Christian Astrosi, received an order last Thursday from the Administrative Court to remove the Israeli flags, which was suspended on the front of the municipal building since October 2023.
Although he considered the court’s decision “unfair” for him, Estosi removed the media himself on the next day of the ruling, saying, “I am a fans, and I respect the decisions and laws of my country.”
And with the continuation of the war on Gaza Strip And the famine that the Palestinians suffer from, these flags remained controversial and disagreement for a period of nearly two years in Nice, in conjunction with the organization of activists who supportPalestine Protests in front of the municipal building to demand its removal.
The legal procedure
The head of the “Friends of Palestine” Association, Hajar Barkous, confirmed that these flags were raised since October 2023 in front of the municipal building, which prompted her to send a message with a notice of receiving to demand its landing, but they did not receive any response.
“With what the law requires, we raised the case to the administrative court after two months, but we did not receive a response as well because justice takes a long time.”
French lawyer Mirai Damiano also made an official notice received by the mayor on April 1 to remove Israeli flags on behalf of a number of taxpayers in Nice, as it is required that he be a taxpayer in the city in order to be able to take this measure.
Damiano explained the reasons for the removal request by saying, “The first reason is the neutrality of government buildings, and the second in the continuous catastrophe that the people of the Gaza Strip suffer,” noting in a statement to Al -Jazeera Net that the message was sent a few days after Israel violated the armistice and the increasing Israeli attacks on Gaza andWest BankThat is, on March 29.
Since the mayor decided not to respond to the notice, this gives the lawyer two months to refer the matter to the court under French law. After the expiry of this period, Damiano submitted an objective appeal on the first of last June, which means an appeal to reconsider the situation completely until the court issued a ruling that these flags are not permissible to be presented to the front of the municipality building.
Last week, the new governor of the Naval District Laurent Hotlo had asked Estosi – in a message – to remove the flags “in the name of the principle of the neutrality of public service.”
Removal
Mayor Christian Astrusi criticized the court’s decision in a tweet he posted on his account on a platform XSaying, “Since October 7, 2023, a party has intensified.”France Abbey“From his anti -Semitic hints, and made the Israeli flag a symbol that must be dropped. They succeeded today and were forced to remove it by a judicial decision.”
The Administrative Court gave the city of Nice 5 days to comply with the decision and remove the flags, which the municipality considered a “symbol to support the detainees”, an argument that did not convince the court, which stated that “due to its continued time and the size of the conflict in the Middle East and the existing global tensions … it can be considered in support of the State of Israel, and thus a claim to a political opinion.”
In this context, lawyer Mirai Damiano submitted a temporary request for intervention, that is, an emergency action, to explain two things, according to her:
- the first: Concerning the existence genocide War crimes and crimes against humanity are committed daily in Gaza.
- the second: It is linked that the mayor made this decision without consulting the city council, which makes the decision void because he does not have the authority to make it on his own.
Commenting on previous statements to Estosi, in which he said, “I will not come down the flags until after we win in the war,” Damiano said, “We do not mean the residents of Sin for sure, and no one asked him anything.”
The lawsuit also shed light on the neutrality of public buildings and the failure to apply dual standards to the municipal halls that were forced to download the Palestinian flag at the request of the municipal rulers, such as the Mouri Municipality in Sin A Marne, and the Jenvie municipality in Ou Sen.
Real victory
Last Thursday, the judge of the Administrative Court supported all the arguments submitted by lawyer Damiano on neutrality, taking into account the position of French diplomacy regarding what is happening in the Gaza Strip after voting in favor of the ceasefire in Security Council And its potential recognition of the State of Palestine.
Consequently, the court saw that the complaint fulfilled all the elements and made a decision obligating the Mayor of Nice to remove the flags within 5 days, forcing him to do this the next day and replace them with pictures and posters for all Israeli detainees in Gaza, as well as pictures of French citizens Cecil Kuller and Jack Paris imprisoned in Iran 3 years ago and a picture to support the writer Bolm Sansal.
Regarding these stickers, Damiano explained that the law does not prohibit the publication of the images as a way to support, “Estosi has already used these images in an advertising plate in the city of Nice. But legally, it is difficult to do anything about it.”
For its part, Hajar Barkous described the last court’s decision as a “real victory” because he “pushed the mayor to remove the flags of the occupation, even though he was adhering to his position in the beginning and did not even consult even with his city council.”
Meanwhile, the association and activists did not stop expressing their solidarity with the people of the besieged sector and their support for the Palestinian cause, as they continued to organize a number of protest stands on a weekly basis in the city of Nice, whether it was permitted or not allowed.