Providence City Council has internal disagreement on raising Palestinian flag

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Providence City Council had an internal disagreement on the body’s decision to raise the Palestinian flag over City Hall on May 16 during the regularly scheduled council meeting.

Councilman James Taylor said that he never agreed to take part in the raising, was not notified beforehand, and wanted the council to focus more on local issues.

“My stance from the beginning was that I was not asked, I would not support the flying of the Palestine flag,” he said.

Mayor Brett Smiley had also expressed disagreement with the flag raising, but said he could not stop it due to it being a decision be a sperate branch of the city government.

Taylor said that the council did not vote on the flag raising, and that he had been receiving “angry emails and phone calls” from his constituents who believed he supported the event.

“Please stop portraying your individual actions as the council because that ends up leaving the rest of us to pick up the pieces of the mess,” he said.

He also said he felt that all 15 councilmembers were not being represented when certain actions were taken in the name of the council, including the flag raising.

During his comments Taylor was interrupted by Council President Rachel Miller, who said he could not make “personal attacks” on the floor.

“If you and your staff want to stir up controversy, air personal beliefs, or get arrested you are all welcome to do so,” he said, which brought on further interruptions.

The full council meeting can be viewed here.