Activists in New Zealand defy capital’s ban on Palestinian colors

The mayor of New Zealand’s capital vetoed plans to light up one of the city’s iconic buildings in the colors of the Palestinian flag, after he was told by the government that it might upset Israel.

The Michael Fowler Centre, a concert and convention hall in central Wellington, was lit up with the colors of Ukraine’s flag days after Russian forces invaded in February.

But when city councilor Tamatha Paul spearheaded an initiative to light up the building with the Palestinian colors ahead of Nakba Day, Mayor Andy Foster nixed the plan.

Marked every year on 15 May, Nakba Day commemorates the 1948 ethnic cleansing of approximately 800,000 Palestinians before and after the State of Israel was declared over the ruins of Palestine’s villages, towns and cities.
 

City councilor Paul condemned the “double standards” by politicians, adding that the mayor “is democratically elected by all people including Wellington Palestinians who have been personally affected by the Nakba and have a right to remember their history.”
 

The ban would appear to be another example of Palestine and Palestinians being treated as an exception in the supposedly democratic “West.” On Sunday, police in Berlin attacked and detained activists merely for wearing traditional Palestinian scarves, amid a sweeping ban on demonstrations in support of Palestine.