High tensions outside Providence City Hall during Palestinian flag raising

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Tensions were high in downtown Providence Friday as the Palestinian flag was raised outside City Hall.

The controversial display of solidarity drew counter protests, and insults were hurled from both sides.

City Council President Rachel Miller initiated the effort.

“We had a constituent request to raise the flag of a group of people in our community who are very often silenced, very often not allowed to speak,” she said. “I am a person of Jewish heritage. I lost a good portion of my extended family in the Holocaust. Because of that I believe it’s my obligation to stand together with people who are facing a genocide.”

The raising of the flag drew sharp criticism from the mayor and some other councilors, and  members of the Rhode Island Coalition for Israel responded as well, forming a counter protest just minutes after the flag went up.

“If they’re here to support the Palestinian people, as we call them, in Gaza, they should ask Hamas to give back the hostages,” RICI President Ken Schneider said.

Police were brought in to keep them apart both sides apart on the City Hall steps.

In the Middle East, Israel continues airstrikes on the Gaza strip, with local authorities saying 108 people were killed Friday.

“Internationally we’ve seen over 50,000 lives have been lost, many of them who have been Palestinian children who have been innocent,” Rhode Island Representative David Morales said.

Mayor Brett Smiley had earlier raised the Israeli flag at City Hall to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day.

Members of the Jewish Coalition of Greater Rhode Island said that they disagreed with both flags being raised, and said that the City Hall should have only the American and Rhode Island flags on display.

The latest display coincides with Nakba Day, which translates to “Memory of the Catastrophe,” commemorating what some Palestinians view as a tragedy associated with the founding of the state of Israel due to the displacement of Palestinians.

“For them it’s a catastrophe when the state of Israel was created, that’s what they’re celebrating today and that’s why they chose to raise this flag, and I think that’s absolutely despicable,” RICI Executive Director Maria Friedman said.

Supporters of the gesture disagreed, and said that recognition of the Nakba was to recognize the historical and suffering of Palestinians.

“The day of the Nakba is a day that Palestinians were killed, tortured, imprisoned, and kicked out of their homes,” Said-Awad said.

Despite the heated debate between the two sides, Providence police said no arrests were made.